Apology demanded for Regina police chief's comments about Lonechild arrest video
Provincial Complaints Commission investigating use of force used against man during arrest
Jessica Ashdohonk wants an apology from the Regina Police Service for comments police Chief Evan Bray made in the aftermath of a controversial arrest caught on video.
Regina police were investigating an armed home invasion during the early hours of Dec. 13 when they pulled over an SUV near the 800 block of Princess Street. Ashdohonk, Rocky Lonechild and three others were inside.
Lonechild, who had outstanding warrants, ran from police before he was chased down and restrained. The video of the arrest appears to show an officer kneeing Lonechild in the back three or four times while he was restrained on the ground.
His family says he suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung which required emergency surgery.
After the arrest, Bray told the public that officers had been told Lonechild was high on meth, although Bray later said he was unaware if that had been confirmed with a drug test.
Ashdohonk said everyone else in the car has now been painted in a negative light as meth users and criminals, and she wants an apology.
"It is not right that we are plastered in the media for doing these crimes and being meth users," Ashdohonk said Monday at a press conference in Regina.
"This is not who I am and the police do not need to say this about us."
Ashdohonk was not criminally charged, nor was anyone else in the vehicle except for Lonechild, though Ashodohonk says her boyfriend did have an outstanding warrant for an unrelated matter.
Police found no weapons or drugs after Ashdohonk consented to a search of the SUV.
Ashdohonk said Lonechild ran when the group was asked to get out of the vehicle and an officer asked him to put his hands on his head.
"The only reason I ran was because I missed court," Lonechild said in a hand-written statement, read aloud by his cousin Terrance Lonechild.
"Plus I was waiting till after X-mas to turn myself in, all I wanted to do was have a X-mas with my boys before I went to jail," the statement continued.
The Regina Police Service declined to comment on the matter as it is being investigated by the Provincial Complaints Commission.