Achi news desk-
On the recommendation of the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS), no charges will be laid against the RCMP officers who were involved in the arrest of a youth from St. Albert with autism in October 2022.
Although the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that a crime may have been committed by the subject officers,” the case was referred to the Crown, as required under the Police Act , which did not recommend charges be imposed.
On October 2, 2022, a 16-year-old boy with autism was arrested on a playground in St. Albert after police received 911 calls about an individual who was exhibiting erratic behavior or who was possibly impaired.
Several officers arrested the boy, who is non-verbal and tried to harm himself while in custody and was taken to a hospital in Edmonton.
The ASIRT investigation, the results of which were published on Wednesday, included interviews with seven civilian witnesses and six police officers, including those who responded to the call. ASIRT investigators also spoke with the youth’s mother and reviewed surveillance video from the area.
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RCMP officers believed the youth to be in his early 20s, noted that he was making strange noises, repeating things and said his pupils looked dilated, the ASIRT report detailed.
ASIRT, in response, determined that the RCMP officers checked license plates for vehicles in the nearby parking lot and found that one was associated with a person who the officer “recognized as a drug user who lived in the area.. .then thought that the person he had to deal with was” that person.
However, the person was not drunk. In fact, he was a non-verbal youth with autism, ASIRT said.
“Three of the four civilian witnesses who observed (him) acknowledged that he could be or was likely to be neurodiverse,” the ASIRT report said.
However, the officers arrested the youth.
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An RCMP watchdog is investigating the arrest of a young person with autism in October in St. Albert
“Two officers came from behind (him), grabbed his arms, and handcuffed him,” said ASIRT, noting that the youth was “shouting, making loud noises, and shouting irregularly.”
The youth was “very upset” and continued to “scream and repeat words” on the ride to the RCMP station, ASIRT said, kicking the door and banging his head against the partition.
His handcuffs were removed when he was moved to a cell in the detachment, where he ran and pounded his fists on the door, ASIRT said.
“At 6:09 pm, he hit his head on the cell door four times,” the report detailed. Five officers and two paramedics arrived and medical records show that a sedative was administered.
The paramedics took the youngster to hospital, said ASIRT. “His injuries were mild swelling to the front of his head and redness on his wrists.”
The boy was reported missing and the police were then able to identify him and contact him with his family.
The Civil Complaints and Review Commission for the RCMP is also investigating the arrest and detention.
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