Charges dropped against Alberta chief in brutal arrest
Allan Adam was stopped by RCMP over licence plate outside casino
FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA. — Charges have been dropped against a prominent northern Alberta First Nations chief whose stop for an expired licence plate turned into a violent arrest that left him bruised and bloodied earlier this year.
The case of
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was in front of a Fort
McMurray provincial court judge
Wednesday where charges of resisting arrest and assaulting an RCMP officer were withdrawn by the Crown.
“The Crown reassessed the prosecution standard based on an examination of the available evidence including the disclosure of additional relevant material and withdrew the two charges,” Alberta Justice spokesperson Carla Jones said in a statement.
“The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has no comment on the actions of the police.” Adam welcomed the news. “I’m overwhelmed at the fact that the charges have been dropped because, you know, we knew — my wife and I knew — that we didn’t do nothing wrong,” he said on a video call after the hearing.
“You know, it was just for an expired licence plate. We don’t understand the reasons why it had to escalate.”
Adam’s lawyer Brian Beresh called the decision a win.
“The withdrawal of these charges at this stage in the law, for our purposes, is a finding of not guilty,” Beresh said.
“It is a true victory, not only for Allan Adam and his family, other Indigenous accused, but for our society generally.”
The move to drop the charges came after RCMP dashcam footage of Adam’s arrest was made public earlier this month as part of a court application to clear Adam’s name.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the Police Act is currently under review in the province and there will be a focus on racism and abuse of authority.