Police watchdog clears Yukon RCMP of criminal responsibility after Indigenous teen injured during arrest

A police watchdog agency has found officers with Yukon RCMP not criminally liable in an incident in 2023 in Whitehorse which resulted in an Indigenous teenage girl breaking her leg – though a justice advocate and the girl’s family feel the the force should be held accountable. The investigation was triggered after the girl, who is Inuk-Dene and was 17 years old at the time, sustained injuries following an altercation with the RCMP in Whitehorse on April 8, 2023. The investigation was conducted by Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, or ASIRT, which is contracted by the Yukon to investigate incidents where members of the public are harmed by police. Its report on the investigation was released April 30. ASIRT is mandated to investigate events where serious injury or death may have been caused by police, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct. The girl, who is now 19, is not named in the report. Sue Brown, advocacy director and staff lawyer for Justice for Girls, a Vancouver-based equality organization which is assisting the girl involved in the incident, said she doesn’t agree with the report’s conclusion. “The issues here are a little bit more complex than the report makes it seem,” she said. “The questions (ASIRT’s) asking were quite narrow and they’re not the right questions when it comes to assessing the reasonableness of the harm that was done to the young woman in this incident.” According to the report, emergency medical services called the RCMP for assistance with an intoxicated woman during the evening of April 8, 2023. Twenty-four seconds after arriving on the scene, the police told the girl she was under arrest for causing a disturbance. The girl resisted and a struggle ensued as the arresting officers attempted to force the girl in the back of a cop car. The girl’s leg became caught in the car’s wheel well during the struggle and she cried out in pain. A photo of the incident included in the report shows the girl laying on her stomach in the back of the car with her leg bent in an unnatural angle. The report states one of the arresting officers said “yeah, don’t fight with the police,” after the girl was put in the car. The officers then told emergency medical services they could stand down as the girl was going to jail. After being taken to jail, emergency medical services were called and the girl was then transported to hospital. The report notes the girl appeared to be intoxicated throughout the encounter, which was later confirmed by a blood alcohol test. The girl was never charged with a crime in the incident. The investigation ultimately concluded that the arresting officers were not liable for the girl’s injuries. “Given that there was some evidence that the (girl) was causing a disturbance, the subject officers did not commit a criminal offence by arresting her. They were also entitled to take physical control of her and transport her for arrest processing. The available evidence suggests that the subject officers were unaware that the (girl’s) leg was stuck and they did not intend to injure her. “There is therefore no criminal liability in relation to the [girl’s] leg being broken,” it states. However, the report did take issue with the arresting officers’ conduct during the incident. It noted that its clear from the video the girl was injured and was in pain and that “by their actions, the (arresting officers) knew this too.” “Police officers have a duty of care to those in their custody and this duty includes seeking prompt medical attention. While their delay in seeking medical attention for the (girl) was not significant enough to attract criminal liability, they still should have sought medical attention immediately,” it states. It further notes that the officers did not deal with the girl “in a respectful or professional manner,” choosing to arrest her for a minor offence “without even taking the time to talk to her.” “(One of the officer’s) callous comment to the injured (girl) of ‘yeah, don’t fight with the police’ did not help the situation and instead perpetuated negative stereotypes about police officers,” it states. “A quick arrest of a youth for a minor offence that results in a broken bone does not serve the public trust in the same way that careful and thoughtful community policing does.” According to the report, matters of discipline are outside of ASIRT’s mandate, and therefore left to the RCMP. Girl’s family, justice advocate decries report’s findings Briann Gagnon, the girl’s mother, feels the RCMP should face repercussions for its role in her daughter’s injuries. She believes the report largely “dismissed” the officers’ actions. “The RCMP are there to do a service and they’re supposed to protect and serve the public. And they did the opposite,” she said. Gagnon said her daughter’s injury left her using a walker and cane in the six months following the incident and she now struggles with mobility issues. She said her daughter has also been traumatized from the incident. “I think that hurt her the most is that after all that pain and suffering, nothing came out of it,” Gagnon said. “I feel like she’s going to be carrying this for the rest of her life and she’s not going to able to lead a normal life because of what they did to her.” Read More:  Inuk mother says daughter’s run in with Yukon RCMP left her hospitalized Paulie Chinna, the girl’s auntie and former MLA and Minister for the Northwest Territories, said she’s “disgusted” by the incident. She believes the report’s conclusion shows the RCMP still has a long way to go in addressing policing issues with Indigenous people. “We are still dealing with mistreatment of Indigenous people and not only that, Indigenous children. And it’s quite appalling to see and hear that this is acceptable,” she said. “How have we moved forward within the RCMP and the justice system if we’re re-traumatizing children again? There’s no trust.” Brown said the girl should have never been arrested in the first place as the law dictates that children should only be taken into police custody as a last resort. “She shouldn’t have been going into a place of detention as a 17-year-old Indigenous girl. The whole layered context of the history of policing of Indigenous women and girls in particular, Indigenous people generally, ought to merit a different approach by the RCMP,” she said. “In my view, this is a human rights violation and this was discriminatory action on behalf of the RCMP officers who were involved in this,” she said. “There need to be consequences for the behavior by the police. There was a power dynamic here. She was a 17-year-old Indigenous child who was intoxicated.” Brown said her organization is assessing the report’s findings and will work with the girl in pursuing options moving forward, if she chooses to do so. The Yukon RCMP said in a statement to APTN News it’s reviewing the report and will consider the next steps. “The safety and security of Yukoners is always our top priority and we continue to work diligently to improve our services to the community,” a spokesperson said. Continue Reading