'I thought he was a goner': Courthouse sheriff's officers save man from 3-storey fall

There were some tense moments at the Winnipeg Law Courts Friday morning as a man tried to jump from a third-storey atrium railing to the lobby floor below.

Quick action by sheriff's officers saved the man from likely severe injury or death.

Lawyer Chris Sigurdson was at a court hearing minutes earlier when he saw the man sitting in the hallway in an agitated state, with four sheriff's officers.

Sigurdson said he had finished his court business and was preparing to leave the courthouse when he saw the officers escorting the man to the elevators. The man broke free from his escort and bolted toward the atrium railing.

Sigurdson said the man was already falling over the railing when an officer grabbed him by his pant leg and shoulder and pulled him back to safety.

"I thought he was a goner," Sigurdson said. "I thought he was going right over till I saw the sheriff catch him and reel him back in again."

Up to eight officers ran to the scene to restrain the struggling man, whose screams could be heard across the courthouse.

"He said something about, 'I don't want to go away,'" Sigurdson said. "I think maybe he was going to jail and he didn't want to go to jail, but I think going over a third-storey railing would be a worse fate than going to jail.

"I have never seen anything like that in my whole life," he said. "It was a very strange situation."

A Manitoba Justice spokesperson said the man did not have business in the courthouse and had tried to address a judge when sheriff's officers started to escort him out of the building.

He was subsequently arrested on an already-issued warrant and remains in custody.