A Saskatchewan RCMP officer was killed on the job Saturday after he stopped a suspected stolen vehicle from Manitoba.
Const. Shelby Patton, 26, died after he stopped a suspected stolen truck in the small town of Wolseley, Sask., east of Regina. He was hit by the truck while outside of his police vehicle, RCMP said.
The truck took off and Patton died at the scene.
Two hours later a man and a woman were arrested in a field outside the small town of Francis, Sask.
In a release issued late Sunday night RCMP said 41-year-old Alphonse Stanley Traverse and 42-year-old Marlene Velma Louise Pagee, both from Winnipeg, have been charged with manslaughter as well as a number of other offences.
Regina court
The two remain in custody and are scheduled to appear at the Regina Provincial Court on Monday at 9:30 a.m. local time.
The other charges they face include failure to stop after an accident resulting in death, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and breach of undertaking. Pagee is also charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Meanwhile, flags at RCMP stations across Saskatchewan have been lowered to half-mast, while a growing memorial of flowers, notes and stuffed animals has taken shape outside the Indian Head detachment where Patton was posted.
RCMP said Patton had been a Mountie for six years and four months, almost all of which he spent at Indian Head. He was briefly assigned to Parliament Hill in 2015.
Saskatchewan RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore has said Patton was known as a hard-working, dedicated police officer and his colleagues have been traumatized by his death.
Close-knit
She said it’s a close-knit team with a “family-like environment,” and there will be supports in place to help them through their grief.
Messages of support have poured in from politicians, including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
In the release police issued Sunday night they said Patton’s family had informed Saskatchewan RCMP that a fraudulent Go-Fund-Me page had been created in the fallen officer’s name.
They said they have advised Go-Fund-Me that the account is fraudulent, and asked people not to give money “to this account in the name of Sam Joseph or promote this account’s activities.”
