Man surrenders after six hours on roof of Cambridge Mill
A distressed man who allegedly broke into a Cambridge restaurant Tuesday and kept police negotiators at bay on the roof for hours before surrendering, is facing charges and a mental health assessment.
The spectacle unfolded after alarms sounded at about 5:30 a.m. at the Cambridge Mill restaurant. Waterloo Regional Police searched the building, eventually coming across a broken window in a fifth-storey washroom. Police discovered a distressed man hiding on the roof.
The man rebuffed appeals to turn himself in and settled into a V-shaped pizza oven chimney vent atop the building for what would become an intense, sixhour ordeal.
“He was despondent,” said Insp. John Goodman. “He was threatening to jump.”
Police negotiators were called in, and firefighters and paramedics, equipped with massive safety mats and climbing gear, were soon on-site.
With onlookers crowding into the cordoned-off intersection at Water Street and Park Hill Road below, negotiators sat on the edge of an adjacent roof plateau, engaging him in conversation.
“We were more concerned about his well-being at that time and getting him some help,” said Goodman.
De-escalation efforts continued throughout the morning. Police used a long pole equipped with a hook to lower a paper bag to the man, who was still perched on the chimney across the sharply-pitched roof peak.
“We made sure he had food and we made sure he had fluids, and when he requested cigarettes, we gave him those as well,” said Goodman. “We were trying to work with him and his mental state at the time.”
Several hours in, negotiators sought insight from friends of the man waiting at the curb across the street. Many of them had been calling out the man’s name, begging him to come down.
One woman, who said she knew the man well, told reporters he was distressed about a recent breakup. Another acquaintance said the man was recently restricted from the Bridges homeless shelter, located blocks away.
At several points during negotiations, the man, wearing a black winter coat with fur trim and camouflaged pants, could be seen curled up in the chimney, smoking a cigarette, flipping through pages of a book or sifting through his backpack.
About five hours into the negotiations, the man became visibly agitated, removing his coat and climbing down from the vent. Jumping down to a lower-level flat-topped section of the roof, he began to pace around the roof, surveying its edges and looking down at police positioned on the ground around the restaurant.
A short time later, he climbed to the peak again, and with negotiators watching in trepidation, swung over the peak to slide down the opposite side, hanging only by his fingertips for a moment.
“We think he was looking for a way to escape,” said Goodman, “but there was no safe way to go.”
After becoming pinned in by an adjoining wall, the man climbed back to the peak, making his way to the vent, lying across it for a short time.
In a sudden move that sparked gasps from the street, the man was on his feet, balancing unsecured on the peak, motioning to police. He walked quickly toward negotiators, and calmly surrendered.
A few minutes later, the man could be seen sitting at a table with police, eating and looking down at the intersection below.
The man was taken to Cambridge Memorial Hospital for a mental health assessment, and charges are pending.
Throughout the morning, Cambridge Mill general manager Alex Kastner was outside the restaurant, offering assistance to investigators, while trying to co-ordinate lunch service cancellations.
He said the company is grateful to emergency services for their response and for ensuring a safe conclusion.
“The ending to what happened was obviously the preferred one to some of the alternatives, and we hope that he gets the help he needs,” Kastner said.