Saskatoon officers did not drop man outside city limits: Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission

A Saskatoon man’s claim he was arrested and dropped off outside city limits, has been deemed unfounded by the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission (SPCC).

Ken Thomas, who once lived in Prince Albert, was very upset at the time of the alleged incident back in April. He told paNOW he was picked up outside a Saskatoon bar and told he fit the description of someone who was digging in vehicles. Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper issued a statement Tuesday morning.

“Our service cooperated fully with the investigation from its inception, and assisted by providing logs of GPS for our fleet as well as video and audio recordings which are automatically activated in all our cars. This information was undoubtedly very useful in proving that there was no contact between the SPS and Mr. Thomas on April 21,” he said in the statement.

At the time of the alleged incident, the Saskatoon Police Service did not comment on the allegation, only saying they considered the complaints to be serious in nature and would be investigating. In his statement Tuesday, Cooper said the police service was required to await the process that follows a formal complaint to the SPCC rather than speaking publicly about their early findings.

“While we felt confident that the investigation would eventually show we were not involved, the investigation itself was conducted by an oversight body and not our staff,” he said.

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The term Starlight Tour was created to describe the alleged practice by police of driving Indigenous people outside the city, in the wake of several deaths in the early 2000s including Neil Stonechild. Cooper said since 2012 the Saskatoon Police Service received seven allegations in different forms, involving people who allege officers drove them out of town and dropped them off. In each case the allegations were investigated and determined to be unfounded and in two cases charges were laid against the complainants for mischief.

Cooper said the Saskatoon Police Service reached out to the provincial Crown prosecution service to determine what their options might be for further investigation. paNOW reached out to Ken Thomas for comment but has not received a response.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell