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Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team is investigating after an RCMP officer hit a teenage pedestrian with a police vehicle while responding to a call on Tuesday.
According to the oversight agency, the officers were responding to multiple reports of “a disturbance involving firearms at a residence on the Kawacatoose First Nation” at the time of the collision, and the boy was trying to get a pair of police vehicles to stop when he was struck and seriously injured.
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“At approximately 10:12 p.m., while travelling through the Kawacatoose First Nation with the emergency equipment activated on both vehicles, the lead RCMP vehicle was signaled to stop by a 16-year-old male standing at roadside,” the Government of Saskatchewan said in a statement on Friday.
“The male was struck by the second RCMP vehicle in the southbound lane of travel.”
Police began first aid, and he received further care from paramedics before he was airlifted to Regina by STARS Air Ambulance. He was later transferred to a Saskatoon hospital, the RCMP said.
The RCMP noted that the Mountie who was driving was not hurt in the crash.
The case is now under investigation by the Serious Incident Response Team, a provincial government agency mandated to investigate “incidents where an individual has died or suffered serious injury arising from the actions of on and off-duty police officers.”
According to the provincial government, the response team was notified of the collision by the RCMP, and immediately sent its civilian executive director and a team of six investigators to the Kawacatoose First Nation and nearby Punnichy – where the responding officers were based – to begin an investigation into the conduct of the RCMP officers during the incident.
The government said no further information will be released “at this time,” but noted that a final report will be made public within 90 days of the end of the investigation.
Police have not released details about the initial call that led to the collision, but the Serious Incident Response Team said the RCMP “will maintain responsibility for any investigation into the original call for service.”
The Kawacatoose First Nation is located southeast of Saskatoon.
