Calgary police takedown of armed and drunk suspect included lullaby

By Aviva West

Early on Tuesday morning, Brad Dowse of Calgary awoke to what may have been the world’s mellowest-ever police takedown of an armed and drunk suspect.

Just before 2 a.m., Dowse heard a commotion outside his apartment on 17th Avenue. Peering out the window, he saw at least four armed officers from the Calgary Police Service (CPS) surrounding the liquor store that occupied the space below him.

Using his cellphone, he posted an image to Facebook with the caption, “Liquor store downstairs being robbed by knife right now. Holy %$#*.”

In the comments he elaborated: “Great job by CPS. Talked the guy down til he passed out from chugging two bottles of Absolut in the 45 minutes and no one got hurt. No gun shots, no phazer, nor force used what so ever. I even got to hear the negotiator sing rock a bye baby to the guy. If today continues as such this could be the most entertaining birthday ever.”

Dowse also recorded video of the incident, which clearly shows the officers calmly reasoning with an unseen suspect, urging him to drop a weapon. A female negotiator can be heard to tell the suspect: ”Put down the knife, bud. You didn’t go in there thinking you were going to pull a knife. You went in there for free alcohol. You got the alcohol.” (inaudible response from suspect) “We’re not going to let you go until you put the knife down. Do you understand that? Have a seat there. You’re looking kind of tired.”

After Dowse posted the picture on Facebook, a friend took a screen shot of the image and posted it to the reddit /r/Calgary thread, where commenters chimed in with additional stories of CPS’s good deeds. From there it was picked up by Calgary’s CJAY 92 radio and posted to their Facebook page.

When contacted, police confirmed that a suspect allegedly robbed a liquor store at knifepoint on 17th Ave on Tuesday and was apprehended peacefully.

“We’re very proud of the professionalism our officers demonstrated during this incident,” said Tom Hansen, acting inspector with the Calgary Police Service. “And while I can't speak to the selection of which (if any) lullaby our member sang to the alleged offender, the posting is essentially accurate.”