Released on August 30, 2024
On Thursday, August 29, at approximately 6:04 a.m., the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) received a notification from the Saskatchewan RCMP regarding a serious incident involving police.
SIRT's Civilian Executive Director accepted the notification as within SIRT's mandate and directed an investigation by SIRT.
On that day at approximately 1:45 a.m., Buffalo Narrows RCMP received a call for service regarding a domestic disturbance at a residence in Turnor Lake. Two members of the RCMP responded to this call, each operating a fully-marked RCMP truck. At approximately 2:59 a.m., while still responding to the initial call, a second call was received reporting a male laying on the road south of Buffalo Narrows on Highway 155. At approximately 3:03 a.m., another caller phoned to report that the male lying on the highway had already been struck by a vehicle.
After concluding the initial domestic disturbance call, one RCMP member departed Turnor Lake, headed southbound on Highway 909 toward Buffalo Narrows to attend to the report of the male laying on the road. The second RCMP member departed Turnor Lake a short time later with one male, the subject of the initial domestic call, in custody. While the vehicles were travelling southbound on Highway 909 through foggy conditions, the first RCMP vehicle to depart Turnor Lake struck a 31-year-old male on the highway.
RCMP members provided first aid to the male and contacted both local health care providers and EMS to attend to provide care for the man. Ultimately EMS pronounced the man deceased at the scene of the accident. It was determined that the male was not the same male reported in the previous calls for service about a male on the highway.
Immediately following the notification, a SIRT team consisting of the Civilian Executive Director and four SIRT Investigators was deployed to Buffalo Narrows and Turnor Lake to begin their investigation. SIRT's investigation will examine the conduct of police during this incident. A community liaison will also be appointed pursuant to S.91.12 (1) (a) of The Police Act, 1990. No further information will be released at this time. A final report will be issued to the public within 90 days of the investigation ending.
SIRT's mandate is to independently investigate incidents where an individual has died or suffered serious injury arising from the actions of on and off-duty police officers, or while in the custody of police, as well as allegations of sexual assault or interpersonal violence involving police.
For updates on SIRT investigations, follow SIRT on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SIRT_SK.
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