The arrest of a man on the Most Wanted list is being examined by an independent investigator, after the suspect suffered injuries during the course of the incident.
According to the Lloydminster RCMP, police located a stolen vehicle in an alley near the 5200 block of 57 Street on Saturday evening. Two men were inside the stolen vehicle, and one was identified as Trent Angus, a 27 year old man from Lloydminster who was wanted on charges of possession of firearms, possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, and failing to comply with conditions.
When police tried to stop the vehicle, which the report indicated Angus was driving, the police car was rammed. Angus then attempted to drive through a fence, and fled on foot to evade arrest, breaking into a nearby home. The report states that the RCMP used their police dog to track Angus, and he was located attempting to break in to another residence.
Despite trying to continue to escape from police, Angus was taken into custody. According to police, Angus sustained non-life threatening injuries while trying to evade arrest and was transported to hospital, and has since appeared in court for the charges related to his outstanding warrants.
The report states the investigation is ongoing, and further charges stemming from the incident will follow.
On Monday afternoon, Constable Grant Kirzinger, spokesperson for the Lloydminster RCMP described how the arrest took place.
“When we located Mr. Angus, there was lots of RCMP in the area, trying to pinpoint his location as he was going through different yards and homes to evade arrest,” said Kirzinger.
“There were numerous police officers in the area to assist with that effort. When he was arrested and placed into custody, there were two police officers, as well as the police dog, when they affected that arrest.”
After Angus was arrested, a post on social media which appeared to be made by his brother, Drayton Angus, allegedly described the injuries sustained by Trent during the course of the arrest and also alleged the number of officers involved was higher than the two described by Kirzinger.
Reached for comment on the matter, Lloydminster RCMP Inspector Suki Manj said the examination of the arrest by an independent investigator is part of routine procedure, whenever there are injuries to an individual.
“Every time an individual receives injuries during anything to do with the police, whether they do it themselves in police custody or whether we are part of that persons injury, we notify the province (Alberta) right away,” said Manj.
“A decision is made at that point whether ASIRT (the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team) takes over the investigation as an oversight body, and investigates that part of it. The RCMP always deal with the criminal allegations against an individual, but anything to do with a police officer or the RCMP or any municipal police force, ASIRT makes the decision whether they’re going to do the investigation themselves, or whether they will have us assign an independent RCMP officer from another unit to do a review or conduct a statutory investigation against an officer.”
Manj said the findings of the investigation are then reviewed by ASIRT, and if they feel as though there is more work needed to be done, they do it, and the results are sent to the Crown. Manj also said an independent officer has now been assigned to review the Trent Angus arrest, with oversight from ASIRT.
“When these things happen, we embrace it,” said Manj.
“We think it’s a great idea. People have their perceptions, and when information is put out there that is not corroborated or real, people can make up whatever they want. Me personally, I trust my officers are doing the best to do their duties in a legal and lawful way, and I don’t expect any of them to go out and hurt people. Sometimes, people do get hurt, including our officers, so there is a section in the criminal code that allows us to use as much force as necessary, when things happen. We have people here to monitor that use, and I think it is a very good idea.”
Manj said the details of the investigation can’t be spoken about until the process is finished, but said his officers would be fully cooperating, and are mandated to tell their supervisors what happened, when it happened, and all the details.
“Do we make mistakes sometimes? Sure. But when those mistakes are made, they’re dealt with, and it’s very rare that our officers are out there, hurting people on purpose,” said Manj.
As for the discrepancy between the account of the police and the information put out on social media, Manj said “everything would come to light.”
“Quite frankly, when these things happen, when an officer calls for help, in the manner in which this happened, anybody available responds, regardless of what they were doing at the time,” said Manj.
“There might seem like there were a lot of people, but in this case there were people keeping a perimeter. We also had to keep everyone else safe, so not everyone was going to the scene. All that stuff will come out. All I can assure the public is that we try to do everything as safe as possible, with the information that we have at the time.”
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
@GoatNewsJames