The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has completed an investigation into a Red Deer RCMP arrest resulting in an injury.
On June 4, 2020, police attempted to stop a vehicle for improper window tint at approximately 1 p.m.
At the time, the driver was prohibited from driving and fled from police.
Officers attempted to stop the driver and deployed a spike belt. The vehicle’s tires deflated, while the driver continued to drive through the city.
At approximately 1:50 p.m., the subject officer, who had a police service dog, began to follow the driver into the McKenzie Trails area.
When the driver approached a dead end on a road, he drove through trees onto an adjacent roadway. The officer continued to follow and attempted intentional vehicle contact to stop the driver.
The driver went off the road, passing over a pedestrian walkway. When the vehicle stopped, the suspect began to run and was struck by the officer’s vehicle.
The officer released the police service dog, who followed the suspect into the river.
Another officer retrieved the suspect from the river and arrested him.
Emergency Medical Services treated the suspect, who said he had broken his ankles while running from police.
Through ASIRT’s investigation, it was revealed that the officer was attempting to get positioned to intentionally contact the suspect's vehicle. When the suspect stopped, the officer intended to contact the vehicle to prevent him from moving further, but he exited the vehicle. As the officer stopped his vehicle, he unintentionally contacted the suspect.
“There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the officer intentionally contacted the suspect with his vehicle. The video from the officer's vehicle shows the time from the suspect putting a foot down to being hit was 1.5 seconds. During this time, the officer was turning away from the suspect,” the ASIRT’s report said. “Given that there is insufficient evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offense was committed.”
**With information provided by Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.