Mounties raise alarm about officer assaults after ATV ramming incident

A Lloydminster man is facing serious charges after allegedly ramming an RCMP cruiser with an ATV.

In the wake of the incident, the Mounties are raising the alarm about what the RCMP says are a growing number of assaults against officers in Saskatchewan.

According to police, an officer “observed several suspicious persons operating a side-by-side outside a business in Onion Lake” on Monday evening.

The RCMP said the officer pulled up next to the ATV in a police cruiser and turned on their emergency lights, but the driver of the off-road vehicle “suddenly accelerated” and rammed the police vehicle.

The officer was unhurt, police noted, and the ATV was later found damaged and abandoned nearby.

Police tracked down and arrested a 33-year-old Lloydminster man, who since has been charged with assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, fleeing a peace officer, dangerous driving, wearing a disguise with intent, failing to stop after an accident and impaired driving.

He’s scheduled to appear in a North Battleford courtroom on Thursday.

Mounties say assaults on RCMP up in Saskatchewan

According to Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, assaults on police officers have gone up significantly in recent years.

“Assaults on police officers have increased 29% in five years in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction,” Blackmore said in a statement. “I’m committed to transparency, and to painting an accurate picture of policing in Saskatchewan.”

According to the Mounties, 319 charges for assaulting or disarming a police officer were laid in Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31.

Based on “reports received within Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction,” the Mounties said there were 362 assaults on officers in 2018, 390 in 2019, 435 in 2020, 414 in 2021, and 471 in 2022. So far in 2023, the RCMP said there have been 375 incidents of assault on Mounties in Saskatchewan.

The majority of last year’s assaults occurred in the RCMP’s northern district, the police force noted.

Of the 471 assaults reported last year, the RCMP said 83 caused bodily harm or involved a weapon, eight involved disarming a police officer, and three were aggravated assault on a police officer.

The RCMP pointed to several recent examples, including two cases – one from Oct. 6 in the Big Island Cree Territory, and the other from the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation on Sept. 18 – when other RCMP vehicles were allegedly rammed.

In another case, from La Ronge on Sept. 30, the RCMP said a person under arrest tried to remove an officer’s Taser from its holster. That alleged assault left the officer injured, police said.