MEDICINE HAT — Charges won’t be laid against an RCMP officer accused of pointing a Taser at a civilian employee and the matter has been referred back to the force to investigate internally, according to a report by the Alberta law-enforcement watchdog.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was called in to investigate allegations of improper actions by Elk Point, Alta., Mounties following an Oct. 30, 2019, complaint by a civilian employee of the detachment.
The unnamed civilian employee alleged one, possibly two, officers pointed their conductive energy weapons (CEW) at her during the year-and-a-half she worked at the detachment between 2018 and 2019, according to a report released today.
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The employee described seeing the red laser target of the CEW and seeing the officer holding his Taser during one incident over the summer of 2019, which was witnessed by another civilian.
The subject officer denied he pointed his Taser at the employee in a written statement but did not answer follow-up questions by ASIRT investigators.
A second Mountie accused of the same action also denied pointing his Taser at the employee but told investigators, “he and other officers had pointed their CEWs at each other as a joke at times,” according to the ASIRT report.
A civilian witness described it being common for Mounties at the detachment to point their Tasers at her and other civilian staff but also stated to ASIRT investigators, “it was always done as a joke and was never threatening,” according to the report.
Alberta prosecutors recommended no criminal charges be laid in July 2021, despite ASIRT finding reasonable grounds that an offence had been committed.
The full report is available here.
Contact alex.mccuaig@producer.com
