No basis for charges against Mountie in woman’s Roblin arrest: IIU

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This article was published 03/05/2023 (1200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Crown prosecutors recommended no charges against an RCMP officer for an incident in which a woman’s wrist was fractured while she was arrested for causing a disturbance while refusing to wear a mask in a Roblin gas station.

RCMP notified the civilian police oversight agency, the Independent Investigation Unit, of the incident, which occurred in September 2021, in November that year.

The woman had filed a complaint in October with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, which handles complaints against Mounties, alleging her wrist had been broken.

Mounties told the IIU the officer had been called to the gas station about a woman causing a disturbance at 3:37 p.m. on Sept. 17.

A clerk told her to put a mask on — masks were mandatory in indoor public places under COVID-19 public-health orders at the time — and she claimed she had a medical exemption and put cash on the counter before leaving.

One witness described the incident as lasting “for some time” with the woman repeatedly refusing to put on a mask, recording the incident on her cellphone.

An employee called for RCMP as the woman went to her vehicle at the gas pumps.

The officer wrote in his notes that he observed the woman walking around the pumps and recording before getting in the driver’s side.

He said in his notes that he knocked on the window and asked for her licence and registration repeatedly, which she refused to comply with.

“(The officer) wrote that (the woman) stated she had a right to refuse and was quoting the Charter of Rights,” the IIU’s civilian director Zane Tessler wrote in a report released Wednesday.

The police officer said he told her she was under arrest, before she yelled she was going to call 911 and report him to the police.

He then leaned into the key and tried to take the keys, but she pushed his hand away, so he grabbed her left arm.

The officer wrote that he put the woman’s left hand in a wrist hold, while she tried to push away with her right hand, before he handcuffed her and lifted her out of the vehicle. Medical records confirmed the woman’s right wrist was fractured.

She was arrested and charged with mischief and causing a disturbance.

Tessler said in his report that the IIU gave its investigative file to the Crown’s office for a review and opinion on whether any charges should be laid against the officer. The Crown’s office said there would be no basis to charge the Mountie after considering the evidence.

— Staff