Sask. police watchdog offers new details about teen struck by RCMP cruiser

Saskatchewan’s police watchdog has launched an investigation after a teen boy from Kawacatoose First Nation was struck by a police cruiser earlier this week.

Shortly after 10 p.m. on April 8, two RCMP vehicles responded to a disturbance involving firearms in a home on the Kawacatoose First Nation.

In a news release sent Friday morning, the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says the vehicles, each with emergency equipment activated, were traveling through the Kawacatoose First Nation when a 16-year-old boy standing at the roadside signaled the lead RCMP vehicle to stop.

The second RCMP vehicle struck the boy in the southbound lane of travel.

According to SIRT, the boy was then airlifted to a hospital in Regina with serious injuries after first aid was provided by officers at the scene.

Later that evening, SIRT was notified, and a team of six investigators and the civilian executive director was deployed to the scene to begin the investigation.

SIRT says it will conclude the investigation within 90 days.