A police oversight agency from Alberta is launching an investigation into a use of force incident involving Yukon RCMP and likely involves an Indigenous teenager.
APTN News previously reported on an April 8 incident where a mother claimed her 17-year-old Inuk-Dene daughter was injured during an arrest by Whitehorse Mounties.
The girl’s mother said her daughter sustained serious injuries while being arrested for public intoxication, including a dislocated kneecap and torn ACL which required surgery.
In an April 27 news release, Yukon RCMP said the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is now investigating an incident that occurred on April 8, which is the same day of the alleged assault.
ASIRT is mandated to investigate events where serious injury or death may have been caused by police and serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.
A release by the RCMP at the time said officers were called to a report of a group of people who were intoxicated in downtown Whitehorse where one person was arrested.
“After the arrest, police found that the person had an injury and immediately contacted Yukon EMS (Emergency Medical Services) again for assessment,” it states.
No other details about the incident were released.
Yukon RCMP said that given the seriousness of the matter, it informed the Yukon government of the incident, which led to an ASIRT investigation.
“The Yukon RCMP believes in processes that seek the facts and it is important that processes taken to assess the actions of all those involved, including the police, are fair, transparent, and defendable,” the release states.
The Yukon RCMP is also launching its own internal review into the matter.
“RCMP training, policy, police response, and the duty status of the members involved will be subject to review,” it said.
APTN reached out to ASIRT to confirm if the investigation is linked to the girl’s arrest but the agency couldn’t be reached for comment before the story was published.
The teenager in question was never charged for the incident.
This is a developing story.
