Charges for assault were laid on Friday when the Weyburn Police Service were called to an apartment building after reports of a fight in progress. Deputy Chief Shane St. John explains that one man was wielding a knife, and it was thanks to the quick response of one of their officers that the outcome was not more severe.
“Our officer was there very, very quickly and got the situation under control, got the knife out of the one person’s hand and threw it aside. It was really fast thinking on the part of our officer to get that under control. Others arrived to assist him.”
St. John explains that approaching these incidents require quick decision making and discernment on the responding officer’s part. He says this is compounded when a weapon is involved.
“The member might not even see that knife. At one time, he's just trying to pull someone off of somebody else, then they got to think very, very quickly how they're going to react to that. Is that pulling your firearm and getting them to come to compliance? Or is that your taser? Or could it be pepper spray? Or could it just be physical force being used?”
“There's a lot to go through the officer's mind, what decision they're going to make for the safety of everybody involved, including the officer.”
The men in this incident were previously known to one another, and St. John says it was likely a drawn-out conflict that came to a head. Both men were arrested, with one charged with assault and the other assault with a weapon.