‘Clearly intoxicated by drugs:’ late-night police incident cancels several Nanaimo-Tsawwassen sailings

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Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien said one person was acting erratically.

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“When we arrived on board this person was clearly intoxicated by drugs. He was arrested for his own safety and taken into police custody.”

The individual was taken off the boat after it re-docked at Duke Point around 10 p.m., according to a witness on board. The ship later headed for Tsawwassen as an investigation continued.

Nanaimo RCMP officers take one man into custody at Duke Point on Thursday, Aug. 25. (submitted photo)

Police say a vehicle believed to belong to the man was parked on the ship, backwards to the recently boarded traffic.

Terminal security cameras showed two people inside when they left Tsawwassen on a 5:45 p.m. crossing, but the second person has not been located.

“We believe the person may have walked off the ferry but we have not been able to put eyes on him yet,” O’Brien added. “We certainly walked the ferry to ascertain if anybody had seen or heard something and we have lots of leads to follow up on, but nothing concrete at this point.”

Investigators believe he left the terminal in a taxi. Foul play is not suspected in his disappearance, as was widely speculated on social media, and police are treating the situation as a missing persons investigation.

The man arrested remains in police custody and officers are awaiting for him to sober up before interviewing him about the incident.

A handful of cars were temporarily taken off at Duke Point around 11:20 p.m., with a tow truck removing the vehicle at the centre of the police investigation.

The remainder of the passengers and vehicles were kept on board until around 3 a.m. according to the witness.

As a result of the incident Thursday night, sailing on the route Friday, Aug. 26 are in a state of flux.

Sailings on the route will continue on a delayed schedule until the scheduled 12:45 p.m. sailing, however Friday afternoon and evening sailings have been cancelled.

The witness said the ship had to travel back to Nanaimo after the 3 a.m. discharge of vehicles, meaning crew would have left work around 5:30 a.m.

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