Police watchdog clears Whitehorse RCMP officers who broke teen's leg during arrest

CBC

12-05-2025

A police watchdog has cleared two Yukon RCMP officers of any criminal wrongdoing after they broke a 17-year-old girl's leg during an arrest in Whitehorse in 2023.
However, investigators with the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) also criticize the officers involved for the way they carried out the arrest, being "callous" and acting in a way that "perpetuated negative stereotypes about police officers."
"A quick arrest of a youth for a minor offence that results in a broken bone does not serve the public trust in the same way that careful and thoughtful community policing does," reads ASIRT's investigation report.
ASIRT is under contract to the Yukon government to look into any deaths or serious injuries involving police officers, as well as allegations of police misconduct.
The report, released April 30, describes the circumstances leading to the teen's arrest and injury on April 8, 2023, in downtown Whitehorse. Investigators used video evidence as well as testimony from the injured teen and emergency medical responders to piece together what happened.
Neither of the arresting officers provided a statement or notes to ASIRT investigators.
"As the subjects of a criminal investigation, that is their legal right," the report notes.
The report describes how Yukon Emergency Medical Services (EMS) had called RCMP that evening for help with an intoxicated 20-year-old female and "an aggressive bystander."
When the two RCMP officers arrived at the scene they saw two people, one of whom immediately ran away leaving only the teenaged girl. There was no one else around, including EMS, the report says.
On arrival, one of the officers told the girl, who was intoxicated, that she was under arrest for causing a disturbance, "only a few seconds after seeing her," the report says. The officers then immediately moved to arrest the girl and get her into the back of their vehicle.
The report says that the teen physically resisted the officers' efforts to get her into the car by placing her feet against the vehicle. At some point during that struggle, her foot became trapped in a wheel well.
Her leg was injured as the officers continue to try to force her into the back of the vehicle.
ASIRT investigators found there was no evidence that the officers knew the girl's foot was stuck in the wheel well. Once the teenager was in the back seat, one of the officers swore, "in an apparent expression of surprise that her leg was trapped," the report says.
It says the other officer then told the girl, "yeah, don't fight with the police."
The officers then took the girl to the jail and called EMS from there. Emergency responders came and later determined that the girl suffered a fractured tibia, ruptured ligaments and other injuries to her right knee.
Officers' actions 'reasonable'
ASIRT investigators determined that if the officers had known the girl's foot was trapped in the wheel well, "they clearly would have been acting unreasonably and would face criminal liability."
"However, given that the evidence tends to show that they did not know it was trapped, their actions were reasonable," the report says.
Still, the investigators faulted the two officers for arresting the youth "for a minor offence without even taking the time to talk to her."
They also cited the officer's "callous comment" about not fighting with police, after the girl was clearly hurt.
They say that even if the officers did not commit a crime, that "does not mean that the subject officers dealt with the AP [affected person] in a respectful and professional manner."
The investigators also pointed to the officers' decision not to call EMS as soon as they understood that the girl had been injured, and instead took her to jail first.
"Police officers have a duty of care to those in their custody and this duty includes seeking prompt medical attention," the report states.
"While their delay in seeking medical attention for the [affected person] was not significant enough to attract criminal liability, they still should have sought medical attention immediately."