RCMP End Criminal Probe into Alleged Elder Abuse

Wednesday, September 22, 2004 at 15:13

 

 

Officials with the RCMP have announced that no charges will be laid against two officers accused of roughing up a Metis elder.

 

68-year-old Jacob Lavallee filed a complaint against the officers after an incident near Montreal Lake last October.

 

The Metis elder and senator claimed he was forced into the back of a police cruiser against his will, and without an explanation.

 

No charges were ever filed against Lavallee and the investigation has taken roughly ten months to complete.

 

However, spokesperson Heather Russell says an internal probe into the officers’ conduct is still underway.

 

Results from that investigation could result in discipline against the officers or mediation between them and the complainant.

 

However, that decision will not be made public.

 

Meanwhile, an official from Metis Nation – Saskatchewan is expressing concern over the outcome of the investigation.

 

Al Rivard, the area director for MNS Northern Region 1, says he isn’t impressed at all with the RCMP’s handling of the complaint, or the secrecy behind it.

 

Having said that, he says the result was not unexpected.

 

Rivard says he realizes the RCMP is still examining the matter internally and disciplinary action might still be taken on the officers.

 

However, he’s not sure why that information has to remain behind closed doors.

 

Rivard says he has spoken to Lavallee since yesterday¹s announcement.

 

He says Lavallee expressed sorrow at the fact the whole ordeal came about after he stopped to help someone on the highway whose vehicle was stuck.

 

That person apparently was the individual the RCMP were looking for when they confronted Lavallee.

 

Rivard says the Metis elder feels like he ended up being punished for being a Good Samaritan.