Just before 7 p.m. Wednesday evening (May 16), Vancouver police, wielding firearms and Tasers, converged on the southeast corner of the intersection of Granville Street and West Broadway and forcibly took down and briefly restrained a homeless male.

By 7:04 p.m. police had a red-bearded man face down on the sidewalk, with his hands apparently cuffed behind his back.

At least six uniformed police officers and another in plainclothes—who may have been a South Granville loss-prevention officer—calmly stood over the prone man while he yelled at bystanders, telling them that his name was Dennis and urging them to take photos and video of what the police were doing to him.

One of the bystanders could be heard telling others that the man had been seen “waving something” around.

But whatever it was that had led to the serious police response, it did not result in an arrest.

By 7:16 p.m. police had released the young man who, looking understandably dazed, quickly ducked out of sight into the mouth of the back alley on the south side of the 1400 block of West Broadway.