Mounties cleared after woman shot and killed by ‘accident’ during arrest: ASIRT

Alberta's police watchdog has cleared RCMP officers in the death of a woman during a police chase three years ago.

Mounties have been cleared in the shooting and killing of a woman during a police chase east of Smoky Lake on Aug. 8, 2022.

A Wednesday report from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said RCMP were investigating a report that the woman had been assaulted and was possibly being held against her will by her boyfriend.

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When officers found the vehicle associated with the man suspected, they tried to stop it but the driver sped away, hitting speeds of up to 120 km/h and driving into oncoming traffic “numerous times.”

During the chase, ASIRT said the woman, who was in the passenger seat, fired a rifle out the window.

The driver then pulled into a gas station in Smoky Lake, ASIRT said, where the man carjacked a truck using the rifle. Both the man and the woman got inside and drove away, initiating another police chase through the town. The truck was eventually found abandoned near a pea field.

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ASIRT said police dogs and officers were able to find the man in the field, at which point he pointed the rifle at officers. Three Mounties fired their guns, hitting the man and the woman, who was also hiding in the field.

She was killed and the man was arrested.

ASIRT cleared all officers of wrongdoing in the shooting, citing the man’s “complete disregard for the lives and safety of anyone on the roadway” and the use of the rifle during the police chase.

“When they encountered (the man) in the field with a firearm in hand, there was no other reasonable alternative to stop him to eliminate the risks he posed,” ASIRT’s report said.

“(The woman) being shot was completely unintended, and her death an extremely tragic accident,” the report continued. “Even if they had known, given the situation immediately facing them, (the officers’) actions in shooting at (the man) would not have changed.

“They all used lawful force against (him). However, in using the force they did, it had the collateral effect of killing (her). Given the original force used against (the man) was justified, the officers are not culpable for (the woman’s) death.”

In 2023, the man – Dawson Steinhauer – was found guilty for his actions in the chain of events that led up to the shooting and death of the woman, Faith Prohl.

Smoky Lake is 110 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.