A witness who video recorded Vancouver police taking down a man in the middle of a busy intersection Monday afternoon claims the officers did not need to use as much force as they did.

Witness video of Vancouver police (Warning: strong language) 0:15

Donovan Mahoney believes the three officers in the incident at Broadway and Main Street were too harsh.

"I saw a guy run across the street here," Mahoney said. "I thought he was running for the bus, and then he got hit by a car in the first lane, which sent him up into the air, and then gets hit by a second car, which launched him about 10 to 15 feet [three to 4.5 metres]."

Mahoney said police arrived quickly.

"Then the police officer picked him up and started to body slam him to the ground."

When Mahoney got too close to the takedown, an officer swatted his camera away.

Mahoney accused police of abusing the man.

"There was no care and concern ... 'Sir, are you OK?'" said Mahoney, who expected first responders to respond differently to someone hit by two cars.

"The first thing when they see a man is, 'Are you OK? Don't move,'" Mahoney added. "None of that conversation happens, not in the video, not before and not what I saw."

Police defend officers

However, the police force defended the officers' actions, saying the man in the traffic was trying to commit suicide.

"This is 11 seconds of a much bigger incident," said Const. Brian Montague, referring to the video. "This man had jumped on a car, smashed the windshield out. Our officers arrived, observed this man running through traffic, get hit by a car and get knocked down."

The police said the man then got back up, ran through traffic again and was hit by a second car.

"Our officers clearly make a decision that this cannot continue. They have to stop him from harming himself or others, so they go in to either effect an arrest or an apprehension, and there's a bit of a tussle. He tries to get up and the officer has to wrestle him to the ground."

He also added the man had mental-health challenges and drug issues.

"We're dealing with someone who turns out to be psychotic, under the influence of drugs, clearly intent on harming himself and we can't allow that to happen," he said. "Any time we use force, if it's done in a manner that is slow or too gradual, sometimes it can make the situation worse. People can sometimes get more injured, and of course, our officers are also at risk of getting injured."

As for the officer who swatted Mahoney's camera away, Montague said Mahoney was far too close.

"We understand that the public is going to film the actions of our officers," he said. "We have no problems with that. All we ask is that they film from a safe distance. There are lots of unknowns here ... We don't know if this individual has any sort of weapon."

Mahoney says his phone was damaged and the officers later ticketed him for not using a crosswalk. He also said he has been in contact with a lawyer and plans to file a complaint against the Vancouver police.