The man photographed urinating on the Komogatu Maru memorial last December has formally apologized days after police announced charges would not be laid in the incident.
In a written statement read by Vancouver Police Chief Const. Jim Chu Friday, the man said “I am sorry for what I did that day at the monument. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
Chu said the man, who is mentally ill and an illicit drug user, won’t be issued a bylaw ticket for urinating in public because it is “not in anyone’s interest.”
“This suspect needs the health system, not the justice system,” Chu said in an email. “We explained this to several South Asian community leaders last night and they supported this decision.”
Community activists were outraged after Vancouver police announced Tuesday the man, who has not been identified, would not be charged.
A Hate Crimes Unit investigated the incident and determined the man did not understand the significance of the memorial when he urinated on it.
The Komagata Maru, a Japanese freighter, arrived in Vancouver in 1914 with 376 passengers. All of the Indian immigrants aboard were seeking a better life in Canada but only 20 were allowed in to the country.
The boat remained docked for months before sailing back to India, where 20 passengers were killed in a riot and several others jailed after disembarking.
