Saskatchewan’s police watchdog issues first investigation report

Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team has cleared police officers of any wrongdoing after its investigation into an incident in Regina in June of last year.

The investigation report by SIRT executive director Greg Gudelot — the first report issued by the team since it started operating — was released on Tuesday.

According to the report, officers from the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit executed a search warrant on June 27 at a home in Regina as part of an investigation into child pornography offences. The officers involved in the search were from the Regina Police Service and the RCMP.

After the search found USB drives containing child sexual abuse material, officers informed the 42-year-old man — known in the report as “the affected person” — that he was under arrest for possession of child pornography.

“At this point, the affected person rapidly backed up and reached into a drawer, retrieving a kitchen knife,” the report said. “The affected person held the knife to his chest as a police officer and his mother both shouted words to the effect of ‘don’t do it.’

“Several police (officers) drew their firearms at this point, and one attempted to negotiate with the affected person before he began stabbing himself in the chest.

“Three officers, joined shortly thereafter by a fourth, struggled with the affected person, falling to the ground with him. Following a struggle, a police officer was successful in taking the knife from the affected person and handed it to another officer.”

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The report said officers handcuffed the man and then began to administer first aid. Paramedics were called and took the man — who was suffering from three stab wounds to the chest — to hospital in serious condition. He was released from hospital on July 1.

Within hours of the incident happening, SIRT was notified and an investigation began.

The report said investigators interviewed eight police officers, a civilian technician, the suspect and both of his parents, with whom he lived. The SIRT team also examined the scene and all of the documentary evidence.

Noting the man’s injuries were self-inflicted, SIRT then looked into whether there was any negligence on the part of the police, and determined there wasn’t any reckless disregard for the man’s life.

“Instead, based on the efforts of the involved police officers to disarm the affected person and stop his self-harm, then to immediately summon EMS and provide first aid prior to their attendance, it is evident that the involved police demonstrated significant concern for preserving the life of the affected person,” the report said.

“Accordingly, there are no grounds to believe any police officer committed any Criminal Code offence during the course of this incident and no charges will be laid.”

SIRT investigates incidents where a person died or was badly hurt due to the actions of on- or off-duty police officers or while the person was in police custody. The team also looks into allegations of sexual assault or interpersonal violence involving police officers.

In 2023, SIRT began investigating 12 incidents.