(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Rural Crime

Woman involved in violent incident at rural property receives jail sentence

Dec 14, 2020 | 6:03 PM

The events that played out last year at a rural property northwest of Prince Albert, in which a police officer was dragged by a fleeing stolen vehicle, were described in detail during a sentence hearing Monday at Prince Albert Provincial Court.

Lisa Black, 34, received a two-year jail sentence after entering guilty pleas to a handful of charges including possession of stolen property (truck), failure to stop for police, mischief and aggravated assault. The co-accused Jade Ermine, received a four-year prison sentence at a separate hearing earlier this fall.

The incident happened in the early afternoon of August 20, 2019, in the rural municipality (R.M.) of Buckland. RCMP initially received a report around 1 p.m. of a suspicious vehicle.

“I constantly play out the events of the day in my head” _{– victim impact statement}

According to the statement of facts read in court by Crown Prosecutor John Morrall, police initially suspected the vehicle was stolen before officers located it at a store on the Wahpeton First Nation. With Ermine behind the wheel, the vehicle sped off down the highway, before veering off into a farmer’s field, causing significant damage to the crop.

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One of the officers alerted the property owner and then caught a ride on an ATV and found the suspect vehicle parked beside a garage on the property. Black was observed in the vehicle’s passenger seat, and began honking the horn, yelling ‘they are here, let’s go.’

As the officer attempted to arrest the woman, Ermine exited the nearby building and jumped into the driver’s seat in an attempt to drive away. The officer, who was inside the vehicle trying to turn the ignition off, engaged in a struggle with Ermine and drew his gun.

“He had one foot on the ground and at that point when Ermine got the truck going again, sped off dragging [the officer] behind the vehicle,” Morrall said.

In a statement the officer said he remembered hitting a bump before he was dragged from the vehicle, which sped toward a building. The officer let go in time but said he feared he would end up pinned between the building and the vehicle. During the incident, the officer dropped his gun.

Fellow officers on scene contacted paramedics. The officer broke bones in his hand, along with ligament damage to both his hand and ankle. He sustained a black eye and several cuts.

Meanwhile, Ermine continued his attempts to flee before a second member used his police cruiser to strike the suspect vehicle to disable it, Morrall said.

Ermine then fled the vehicle on foot and was later arrested.

Officers later confirmed the truck was stolen out of Leask two days before. Inside, they located various break and enter tools, and drugs.

“The truck was full of needles, and the driver’s door had a container with meth,” Morrall said.

Victim impact statements

A number of victim impact statements were entered into the court record, including one by the officer dragged by the vehicle, and his wife.

The officer said the injuries he sustained impacted his ability to do his daily activities with his family. The trauma of the incident has led to psychological issues including nightmares, he said.

“I constantly played out the events of the day in my head, which lead to insomnia,” Morrall read on behalf of the officer.

The officer also said he was on leave from operational policing for seven months, and explained the incident changed the way he thinks about his job.

“I find myself being overly protective and worried for my members when they are responding to similar complaints,” he said.

The man’s wife who is also a member of the RCMP fought back tears when she read her statement aloud in court. She described the anxiety she felt on the day of the incident and the concerns she had not knowing what happened to her spouse. She also described the helplessness of trying to answer questions from her two young children, who did not know their father was in hospital.

The children would ask “when is daddy going to be home from work?” she said.

The wife shared how the incident affected her children’s world view in that there are people who want to hurt police officers.

paNOW has chosen not identify the officer or his spouse.

Defence submissons

Dale Blenner-Hassett described how his client, who had no criminal record, battled a meth addiction over the past five years and added this was a “one-time incident.”

Blenner-Hassett expressed his client is remorseful for her actions, however when Judge Felicia Daunt asked Black if she had anything to say, she shook her head and said “no”.

Judge’s decision

With a number of RCMP officers present in court to observe the afternoon hearing, Judge Daunt agreed to go along with the joint sentence submission presented to her.

“According to the Supreme Court of Canada, I cannot reject a joint submission lightly, even if it is not the sentence that I myself may have given,” she said.

In addition to a two-year sentence minus 90 days for time spent in custody, Black was prohibited from driving for two years and must also pay $1,500 in restitution.

According to a statement from the property owner, at least two doors had to be replaced and the suspects had urinated in the garage.

—

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell