By Ian Gustafson

police dog injured suspect

ASIRT concludes investigation into September 2022 incident on Samson Cree Nation

Nov 29, 2024 | 9:46 AM

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has found that an RCMP officer lawfully executed his duties following an investigation into an alleged aggravated assault involving a Maskwacis RCMP officer on Sept. 10, 2022 at Samson Cree Nation.

“There is no evidence to support any belief that he engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to a criminal offence,” said Executive Director Michael Ewenson in the report.

“While the use of the PSD (police service dog) did result in AP (affected person) suffering a significant injury, this was an unfortunate and unintended consequence of a lawful use of force. The use of the PSD by SO (subject officer) was proportionate, necessary and reasonable in all of the circumstances.”

On Sept. 10 at 9 p.m., RCMP attended a call at Samson Cree Nation after they received a report from a civilian of an unwanted person on their property, the report retells.

The RCMP were made aware that the accused had several outstanding warrants for violent offences including armed robbery and was also a person of interest in a recent homicide. It was also believed he was in possession of a shotgun.

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Approximately 15 minutes before police arrived, the suspect had left on foot to a nearby area and the officer organized containment of the area.

Because of the suspect’s alleged violent past, the officer called in assistance from the Emergency Response Team and Police Dog Services.

At 9:50 p.m., with assistance from Police Dog Services and another officer, they located a track and PSD was deployed to the track leading southeast.

Around 100 metres from the start of the track, PSD came across something unknown which could not be identified by the officer because of terrain, distance, and darkness. In the report, it was described as six-foot high grass.

After yelling orders to the suspect to come out with their hands empty, the officers moved toward where the PSD was, which is where they found the suspect on his back exclaiming, “Okay, okay, I give up.”

The officers found the police dog was biting the suspect’s upper inner right thigh and once the suspect was handcuffed, the dog released its bite. The report stated they had the suspect role on his stomach prior to handcuffing him but struggled due to his size and had to use two sets of handcuffs.

The suspect was then transported by another officer to the Maskwacis detachment where they were met by EMS.

The suspect was then taken to hospital where he was treated for the bite. As a result, it was found he was significantly injured by the bite including missing flesh that exposed underlying tissue and structure of the thigh.

The injury required multiple surgeries to repair and close, and the man was later released from hospital on Sept. 24.

A court check confirms that the aforementioned suspect, now 32-year-old Zachary Littlechild, was sentenced in November 2022 in relation to this incident, on a charge of failure to comply with a release order. The particular order stated he should not be in possession of any weapons including knives or bear spray.

Littlechild was given a 50-day global jail sentence, and was released for having served 35 days (multiplied by 1.5) already. A second charge of failure to comply related to a firearms ban was withdrawn.

The full report can be read here.