U.S. deserter, wearing only briefs, detained in Nelson

A U.S. Army deserter was arrested by police in Nelson, B.C.,and held for several hours in a cell — wearing only his boxer shorts — just three days before his planned wedding to a Canadian woman.

Kyle Snyder, 23, who says he is applying for permanent residence in Canada, is wanted by the U.S. army because he deserted in 2005 after fighting in Iraq.

When he was called to the door by Nelson police on Friday, he was wearing just a robe over his shorts, and police refused to allow him to get dressed, citing safety issues.

They said it's against policy to allow an arrested individual to go back into his or her residence and put on clothes.

Snyder accused Nelson police of arresting him at the request of the U.S. army, and said his lawyer has told him being absent without leave (AWOL) from another country's military is not an extraditable offence in Canada.

"I couldn't believe it could happen that way. The only thought that was going through my head was I thought Canada was a completely separate country, thought it was a sovereign nation. I didn't know they took orders from the United States," Snyder said.

A Nelson police spokesperson said the request to arrest Snyder did not come from Canadian officials, but would not say where it came from.

According to a Canadian Press report, the order came from the Canadian Border Services Agency.

Snyder originally fled to Canada in 2005 to avoid his second deployment in Iraq.

He went back to theUnited States in 2006 because he thought he had a deal with the army that would see him discharged, but without serving any jail time.

When he arrived at Fort Knox, Ky., he was told to rejoin his army unit in Missouri.

"All of a sudden, the people that had made the deal with us aren't available, which is weird, because a United States soldier doesn't just come down from Canada every single day," he told CBC News in Novermber 2006.

Snyder refused to report to his unit, and went into hiding in Kentucky, eventually returning to Canada.

His wedding has been rescheduledfor March.