RCMP officers, and police dog, credited with saving life of suspect minutes away from diabetic coma
Man had escaped into the bush near Onion Lake and would have died from exposure if not found, paramedics say
A pair of Saskatchewan RCMP officers, along with a police dog, are being praised for finding a suspect just before he slipped into a diabetic coma.
On the evening of Dec. 3, RCMP Onion Lake officers stopped a stolen vehicle on Highway 797 near Onion Lake Cree Nation, close to 300 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
The driver jumped out of the car and ran into a snow-covered field, while RCMP arrested three other occupants of the vehicle.
When North Battleford RCMP dog handler Cpl. Colin Pyne and Soap, an RCMP service dog, arrived at the scene, they joined Onion Lake officer Const. Michael Page in a search for the driver.
RCMP said the trio tracked fresh footprints in the snow through the fields and bushes. The two officers and dog spent two-and-a-half hours and covered 12 kilometres in searching for the suspect, the RCMP release said.
They found the man, lightly dressed despite temperatures well below freezing, in the middle of the woods just after 8 p.m.
While officers were bringing the man back to the road, he collapsed face first in the snow.
The officers were able to help him to his feet and encouraged him to keep on walking to avoid hypothermia.
When they reached Highway 797, the officers placed the driver in the back of a police vehicle and placed an emergency blanket over him, while waiting for EMS to arrive.
When Onion Lake EMS arrived, Page went with the man in an ambulance, where he was treated for low blood sugar and hypothermia.
The paramedics estimated the driver was five to 10 minutes away from going into a diabetic coma. Had he not been found, he would have died of exposure, they said.
The driver of the vehicle is facing various charges.