(BRENDAN KERGIN/FILE PHOTO / iNFOnews.ca)
January 16, 2023 - 12:12 PM
B.C.'s police watchdog is recommending a Kamloops RCMP officer be charged after a violent arrest last winter.
What might have been a wrongful arrest left a young cyclist seriously injured at Riverside Park on Dec. 3, 2021, according to an Independent Investigations Office of B.C. news release.
Officers were responding to a robbery and a theft at the Lansdowne Shopping Village around 7:25 p.m. that day, spotting a youth on bike nearby who matched the suspect's description.
Believing the young cyclist was involved in both incidents, police chased him from the intersection at 3 Avenue and Lansdowne Street into Riverside Park, according to the IIO.
The cyclist was seriously injured during his arrest around 7:30 p.m., but the police watchdog didn't specify the extent of those injuries in the initial Dec. 6 news release or when it decided his injuries could warrant criminal charges.
In a Dec. 8 news release, the police watchdog did say the cyclist was not believed to be involved in the Lansdowne robberies.
Chief civilian director Ronald J. MacDonald filed a report to the B.C. Prosecution Service to consider charges, but the watchdog's full report was not issued publicly.
The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in B.C. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023