Double exposure: RCMP nabs two suspects after run through frigid forest

An alleged attempt to escape from police by running through a forest while not wearing shoes and shirts only led to charges — and exposure to the elements — for two men on the Montreal Lake Cree Nation.

According to the RCMP, the incident began Tuesday at around 4:30 p.m., when police determined a man wanted on a warrant was in a house on the First Nation.

“As Waskesiu/Montreal Lake RCMP and Saskatchewan RCMP’s Meadow Lake Crime Reduction Team approached the residence, two males ran out and got into a vehicle,” the Mounties said in a release. “Officers blocked the vehicle from leaving and the males ran into a nearby wooded area.

“Officers worked to locate the males. They observed them in the woods, wading across a river.”

The Saskatchewan RCMP’s Critical Incident Response Team, Prince Albert Warrant Enforcement and Suppression Team, Police Dog Services, Containment Team and Remote Piloted Aircraft System, as well as the Saskatoon Police Service’s Air Support Unit, joined the search. At around 8:30 p.m., the men were found in the forest and arrested.

The RCMP said the men “appeared to be suffering from exposure to the elements” and were given first aid.

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“These males, one on a Canada-wide warrant and one just released from jail a couple of weeks ago, were determined to evade police. They ran — with no shirts or shoes on — into a thick wooded area, even crossing a frigid river in an attempt to avoid arrest,” Insp. Jeff Smoliak of the RCMP’s Saskatchewan Enforcement Response Team said in the release.

“We have the investigational knowledge and technology to locate individuals, even in rugged terrain. Through the teamwork of Waskesiu/Montreal Lake RCMP, multiple Saskatchewan RCMP units, as well as Saskatoon Police Service’s Air Support Unit, the males were arrested, and an illegal firearm and illicit drugs were removed from the community of Montreal Lake.”

Police found 3.5 grams of crack cocaine and a large sum of money on one of the men during the arrests. When the RCMP searched the SUV the men tried to flee in, officers found a loaded shotgun with a defaced serial number, ammunition, 20 grams of methamphetamine, two batons, a can of bear spray and trafficking paraphernalia.

A 23-year-old man and a 32-year-old man, both from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, are facing a number of drug and weapons offences. The 23-year-old also was charged for breach of statutory release conditions and for being unlawfully at large.

They appeared in Prince Albert Provincial Court on Thursday.