Police take down stabbing suspect with Taser on crowded Vancouver street

A stabbing suspect has been charged with assault with a weapon after he was taken down by police with a Taser as crowds of teenagers left a concert in East Vancouver on Sunday night.

Vancouver police have confirmed that a 22-year-old suspect from Surrey, B.C., was arrested at gunpoint after police responded to a report of a stabbing near the PNE grounds at about 10 p.m. PT on Sunday.

Police said that two men had an argument that got heated, before one of them was stabbed.

Soon after the stabbing, officers confronted a suspect near a bus stop outside the McDonald's at East Hastings Street and Cassiar Street.

Video of the arrest taken by a bystander has been circulated widely online. 

In the video, officers can be heard repeatedly yelling at the suspect to lie down. When the man doesn't comply, he is hit by what appears to be a conducted energy weapon.

The man is seen falling and his head appears to hit a tree as he's pulled by officers onto the sidewalk.

"The suspect was unco-operative. However, officers were able to safely arrest him using a Taser and by pulling him to the ground. A knife was recovered at the scene and the suspect was treated at hospital for a cut to his hand, which he received prior to the officer's arrival," Const. Jason Robillard told CBC in an email.

Robillard said that the victim of the initial stabbing — a 22-year-old man from Langley, B.C. — was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Angus Reid said he was passing by the scene when he saw police officers and a "heavy-duty gun" that he assumed was a rifle, and stopped to capture video.

Then, he said, he saw officers move in to arrest the suspect.

"He kind of gets thrown against the tree. His head hit the trunk of the tree," said Reid.

"It really came out of nowhere. There was no sense of causality. It just sort of happened. He was just standing there passive," said Reid, who had no idea at the time that the man was suspected of a stabbing.

Police confirmed the charges Monday morning.