SURREY — The man arrested Saturday night for walking on a section of SkyTrain track suffers from mental illness and had stopped taking his medication.
The SkyTrain was shut down for 24 minutes at around 6:50 p.m. Saturday evening after the individual entered a guideway at the Columbia Station in New Westminister.
The man claimed he had dropped his keys out of the window of the SkyTrain while crossing the SkyBridge over the Fraser River, said Anne Drennan media advisor for the Transit Police.
"Once he was off the train at Columbia he stepped down on to the guideway and said that he was walking across the bridge to try and find his keys," said Drennan.
He was taken into custody by Transit Police at the Scott Road Station in Surrey.
This was the second time in the past month that this same individual has entered a section of the tracks, added Drennan.
She said that Transit Police are looking at a possibility of mischief charges but because of the mental health issues involved it is more difficult and not necessarily appropriate.
"There is really not a lot we can do other than make sure everyone on the line has his picture and that we monitor him as closely as we can," said Drennan.
"When our members see him, because he uses the train regularly, engage him in conversation and try and asses at that time what his condition is and encourage him not to go down on the tracks," she added.
It is uncommon for people to walk on sections of the tracks but it does happen. Drennan said that in the past year there have been maybe four or five incidents — all of which have involved an individual suffering from mental illness.
While there are safety measures in place to automatically shut down the system if a person enters the tracks it is still very dangerous.
Drennan said that if SkyTrain users see anyone who looks like they intend to get on the tracks to advise SkyTrain attendants or Transit Police immediately. If they are in the train they should press the emergency button or yellow stripe.
matt@mattlaw.ca