Controversial arrest report under review

PCC completes probe, which is now in the hands of Crown prosecutors

REGINA The arrest of a Regina man that ignited concerns over police use of force is now being reviewed by Crown prosecutors.

The Public Complaints Commission

(PCC) confirmed this week that it had completed its investigation into the Dec. 13, 2019 arrest of Rocky Dean Lonechild, and that the case is now in the hands of public prosecutions to determine whether charges should be laid.

The PCC is a non-police body that investigates and reviews complaints against municipal police. The results of PCC investigations are provided to the complainant, but are not made publicly available.

Regina Police Service (RPS) spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said the force will wait for public prosecutions to complete its review before taking any action against the officers involved in the arrest.

Home security camera footage of Lonechild’s arrest shows three officers chasing a man and tackling him to the ground in front of a house. In motions partially obscured by a hedgerow, an officer can be seen three times swinging one bent leg back and forth toward the man on the ground.

After video of the arrest went public, Lonechild’s family demanded an independent investigation. The family said Lonechild suffered injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Speaking to reporters after the video surfaced, RPS Chief Evan Bray said officers had been dispatched early in the morning on Dec. 13 for a report of men rushing into a home with what a caller believed to be guns. The men left the scene in a vehicle.

After police stopped a suspect vehicle, four people were arrested, but one person fled on foot. Bray said those arrested told police the person who fled was high on meth.

Police eventually located and arrested the man, which was the incident caught on the security footage.