A man threatening hospital staff with a knife for hours cost the ACT almost $10,000 in a police response with dozens of officers called to the stand-off that ended with a flash-bang grenade being deployed.
More than two dozen police officers, including a national specialist response team and negotiators, were called to Canberra Hospital on April 22, 2026 as a male patient kept eight hospital staff locked in a room near the emergency department for three hours.
Police had failed to find a hidden knife on the man's person when earlier dropping him off at the hospital for mental health treatment.
