The employee dressed in the stormtrooper costume. (Supplied by Bradley Whalen)

By David Opinko

USE OF (THE) FORCE BEING LOOKED INTO

Lethbridge police to launch “service investigation” into Star Wars Day stormtrooper arrest

May 6, 2020 | 12:51 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) will be looking into the way officers handled a call for service at a local Star Wars-themed restaurant on Monday, May the Fourth.

An employee at Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina in Lethbridge was outside the store dressed as a stormtrooper for a promotion.

Two members of the public had phoned 911 to report a weapons complaint, apparently believing the plastic toy blaster she was carrying as part of the costume was a real firearm.

BACKGROUND: Star Wars Day promotion gone wrong leads to police incident in Lethbridge

Store Owner Bradley Whalen told Lethbridge News Now about his recollection of the incident.

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“Police officers had guns drawn, pointed at my employee. They were yelling at her to put the gun down so she threw the plastic gun on the ground. At that point in time when I came out, she was on her knees kneeling down on the ground. The police had already checked and seen that the gun was plastic so they already knew that there wasn’t an issue or a risk there.”

In the hours since the incident and our story on it, a member of the public released a video of the interaction between the police officers and the employee.

WARNING: The video below contains course language.

“Upon reviewing the file and additional information, including video circulating on social media, Chief Scott Woods has directed a service investigation under the Alberta Police Act that will look into whether the officers’ acted appropriately within the scope of their training and LPS policies and procedures,” reads a statement from Lethbridge Police Service.

LPS reiterated the claims from Inspector Jason Walper that “the subject dropped the weapon but did not initially comply with further police directions to get on the ground.”

The “weapon” was eventually determined to not be legitimate and the employee was not charged. She sustained a “minor injury” to her nose but did not require medical attention.