Alberta’s police watchdog says there are grounds to believe Mounties may have broken the law when they arrested a non-verbal autistic teen at a playground.
But it says Crown prosecutors have recommended against charges, as there must be a reasonable likelihood of a conviction and pursuing a case must be in the public interest.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team investigated the 2022 arrest of the 16-year-old boy at a playground in St. Albert, northwest of Edmonton.
Someone had called 911 concerned that a boy at the park shouldn’t be there on his own — either because he had a disability or was on a bad drug trip — but there was no suggestion he was harming anyone.
The first officer to respond mistakenly thought the teen was a known drug user in the area, and two more officers later arrived thinking they would be dealing with a different drug user known to be combative with police.
The officers, as they arrested the boy for public intoxication, were unable to get his name and he became increasingly agitated, hitting his head intentionally in the police vehicle and in his cell.
Almost three hours after the first officer arrived at the park, a call came through to the RCMP that the teen had been reported missing.