Saskatchewan’s police watchdog will not lay charges against an RCMP officer who broke a woman’s arm during her arrest.
On July 2, 2025, a 38-year-old woman was leaving Melfort Hospital against the advice of her medical team after a mental health stay. She was said to be wandering through the facility’s parking lot in a hospital gown, which prompted staff to call the police that afternoon, according to the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT).
One of the two responding Melfort RCMP officers informed her she was being taken into custody in accordance with the Mental Health Services Act. At that point, SIRT said an altercation began between the two, which escalated after she knocked the officer’s hat off while running away.
“A confrontation occurred between the subject officer and the affected person (the woman), which culminated in a struggle on the ground. During that struggle, force was used on the affected person, which resulted in a fractured right humerus,” according to the team’s investigative summary.
SIRT members interviewed two police officers, including the arresting officer. They also spoke with the hospital staff member that called police, the person who took the woman to the hospital and a patient who witnessed the incident in the hospital parking lot, as well as the women herself.
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The police watchdog said it consensually reviewed her medical records.
“Those records revealed that during the incident, the affected person (the woman) sustained a spiral distal fracture of the right humeral shaft and, upon admission to hospital, screened positive for various substances, including cocaine and methamphetamine,” SIRT’s report reads.
While the officer was within their rights to arrest her, the police watchdog concluded that excessive levels of force were used.
“When considering both the observable decrease in the affected person’s level of resistance, as evidenced by twice offering her hand, and the level of anger displayed by the subject officer through his words and demeanour, both the level of force and the motivation underlying the application of force appear to fall outside the legal protections provided to police,” SIRT said.
In a statement to Global News, Saskatchewan’s justice ministry said charges were not authorized because Public Prosecutions felt the officer’s charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
“Before proceeding with a case, Public Prosecutions must measure it against a higher standard than ‘reasonable ground to believe.’ There must be a reasonable likelihood of conviction and a criminal prosecution must be in the public interest,” the statement reads.
It said after the prosecution did not believe the charges could be proven to that extent, meaning there was no reasonable chance of conviction.
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