COLD LAKE - Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has found RCMP officers acted lawfully when they shot and killed a man near Ardmore in June of 2021 who was high on crystal meth and acting erratically, including allegedly assaulting a woman, strangling her dog and stabbing a police dog.
On June 20, 2021, ASIRT began its investigation into an officer-involved shooting, according to a report released on Oct. 22, 2024. The shooting reportedly happened during an investigation into an alleged assault on a woman that took place in a rural area in northeastern Alberta near the Saskatchewan border.
When Cold Lake RCMP responded to the call, it was reported that the suspect of the assault was “high on methamphetamine,” and had strangled the woman’s dog, assaulted the woman and forced the woman to give the man her vehicle keys, according to the ASIRT report.
The man was reported to be in a fenced compound at an oil well site near Ardmore.
ASIRT reports that three RCMP officers attended the call. The man did not comply with verbal commands given by police officers and fled into a heavily treed area nearby, the ASIRT report says.
A Police Service Dog (PSD) was called in to help, along with another police officer who was the dog handler. A police officer was acting as protective cover for the dog handler while tracking with the dog.
The man was eventually observed along a tree line “with his arms crossed,” reads the report. Officers reportedly asked the man to show his hands, but the man “appeared agitated with the officers, raising his fist and yelling at them.”
The police dog handler gave the command for the dog to apprehend the suspect, and the dog obeyed, taking hold of the man by biting his left arm.
The man “immediately began to strike the dog with what appeared to be punches to its head and neck area,” reads the report. The dog handler moved to where the dog was to assist the PSD, but the man continued to strike the dog.
The police dog handler delivered several closed fist punches to the face of the man, “while telling him to stop.” The man’s demeanour did not change, and he continued to strike the police dog.
In the report, it states the man appeared to have no reaction to pain and the man made a comment to the effect of, “That’s the beauty of meth, I don’t feel pain.” Although officers did get the man to the ground, he refused to give up his hands.
The first officer who had initially provided protective cover to the dog handler, then noticed a bloody knife in the man’s right hand. At some point during the incident, the man had stabbed the dog. The report notes that two stab wounds were found on the dog.
Struggling to control the man, the first officer believed he would kill the dog handler and himself if the man was able to break loose. The officer who was the dog handler did not have a free hand to access his gun, and reportedly told the other officer, “He stabbed [PSD] and he’s going to stab us. Shoot him, shoot him.”
The first officer then discharged his service pistol at the man once, hitting him in the right shoulder area. The man went limp, first aid was started and was EMS requested to attend.
EMS arrived on scene, but the man was declared deceased. An autopsy found that the man died of a single gunshot wound.
“The bullet entered the right shoulder but travelled through the chest resulting in traumatic injuries and death,” reads the report. Toxicology did show a “significantly elevated level of methamphetamine” in the man’s blood.
Witness interviewed
The woman who initially made the call to police was interviewed by investigators. She said her roommate at arrived home with her boyfriend, who was the man later shot by police.
The two appeared paranoid about the police following them because they had a no-contact order issued between the two of them, reads the report. The woman says the man had started talking about “weird things,” but she humoured him by listening and trying to keep him calm while driving the man on back roads toward Cold Lake.
On a rural road, the man asked the woman if she valued her car more than her dog and he reportedly started choking the dog. The woman told the man to get out of the car, but he kept chocking the dog, so she exited the vehicle and unclipped the dog’s collar, getting the dog out of the vehicle.
The woman ran away from the man, but he reportedly attacked the woman, and she ultimately gave him the keys to her vehicle, and he took her phone. The woman was able to flag someone down for help once the man started walking away.
Police were called to the scene, where the man was then found in the compound area.
During the investigation, the woman told police that the man had attempted suicide in the past and talked about suicide by cop over the last couple of months, reads the report.
The ASIRT report also notes that the officer who was the dog handler had dealt with the man in the past and was aware of “his extensive history with police.”
In the conclusion of the report, signed by Michael Ewenson, executive director with ASIRT, it states that “After a thorough, independent, and objective investigation into the conduct of the subject officers, it is my opinion that they were lawfully placed and acting properly in the execution of their duties.”
The report adds, “There is no evidence to support any belief that either officer engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to an offence.”
The use of force was necessary and reasonable, states the report.
