Suspect, two Saskatoon police officers hurt after tumble down flight of stairs

Two Saskatoon police officers and a suspect were taken to hospital after they fell down a flight of stairs during a scrap in an apartment building early Saturday.

According to police, officers responded just before 1 a.m., to a call of an altercation at a building in the 500 block of 20th Street West.

Two people claimed that as they were leaving an apartment, a man who lives in another suite started harassing and physically assaulting them. The people said the man locked the exit door, forcing them to run to a nearby suite.

As officers started taking witness statements, the man allegedly approached them and started shouting at them.

“As they stood in a narrow stairway attempting to de-escalate the incident, the male became more aggressive and began punching one of the officers,” the police said in a media release. “As both officers attempted to restrain the man, all three fell down the stairs.

“As the struggle continued at the bottom, the male suspect began pulling at the duty belt one of the officers was wearing. The male was also pulling equipment from the belt, breaking the belt in the process.”

The officers eventually got the man into custody before all three were taken to hospital. The suspect is in hospital with serious injuries, while the officers weren’t badly hurt.

The man is facing two charges each of assaulting a peace officer, assault, and forcible confinement and one count of disarming a peace officer. He’s to appear in Saskatoon Provincial Court when he’s released from hospital.