Murray Mandryk: Tragic RCMP death provides needed perspective

By Murray Mandryk

RCMP Constable Shelby Patton died in the line of duty in Wolseley on June 12.

The 24-year-old officer was dispatched around 7:50 a.m. to pursue a report of a stolen white Ford F250 pickup truck from Manitoba in Wolseley, according to press release from the Indian Head RCMP detachment where he was based.

The vehicle struck Patton and left the scene. Police and emergency medical services were called and people tried to administer first aid, but Patton went into cardiac arrest and died right there.

Alphonse Stanley Traverse, 41, and Marlene Velma Louise Pagee, 42 of Winnipeg have been charged with manslaughter for allegedly striking and killing Patton.

The suspects were arrested two hours later after a farmer near Odessa reported trespassers in a white pickup had entered his property and stolen his truck. The white pickup was recovered in a field near Francis about one kilometre away from the farmer’s abandoned truck.

After appear in Regina Provincial Court in making in separate court appearances last week, Traverse and Pagee were remanded in custody. Both will return to court this week.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, Traverse and Pagee have been charged with manslaughter, failure to stop after an accident resulting in death, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and breach of undertaking for leaving the province of Manitoba.

The cold facts of the matter tell a tragic tale, but there is much more context needed to understand what policing is like — especially in rural or remote communities — and what such officers mean to these communities.

This event sent the communities of Indian Head and Wolseley into mourning — not just because Patton was an RCMP officer but also because he had become a valued part of the community. It often happens this way in small towns and small cities in Saskatchewan with RCMP detachments.

Yes, they are police officers and, as such, they have traditionally been expected to limit their social interaction out of concern that it could interfere with their duties.

There can also be a sometimes-uneasy relationship with the locals and the RCMP. As with any police force anywhere, relationships are never going to be perfect.

But the sincere outpouring of grief in the community — and in the province, as a whole — is both important and telling.

They donned red shirts in Patton’s honour, paid tribute at the spot where he was killed and stood in silence as his body was taken to rest.

Similarly, RCMP officers lined Regina’s Dewdney Avenue where their training headquarters in located. Condolences poured out from every corner of the province, including from Premier Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan legislature.

In one rather bizarre development, the City of Regina chose not to lower its flags to half staff, explaining that its “flag policy does not include recognition of members of the RCMP who are killed in the line of duty” and an “exception would be considered if the fallen individual has been currently working in Regina and/or was born and raised here.”

Officer Patton died in a neighbouring community just 60 miles away. Regina prides itself as the home of the RCMP, which should mean that this city should be especially cognizant of any RCMP officer anywhere sacrificing his life in the line of duty.

And maybe in a world where people are latching on to the rather nebulous notion of “Defund the Police”, it’s of added importance to acknowledge the risks associated with serving and protecting.

This is not say that Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. do not have validity or that there isn’t policing issues in this country.

It is to say that police — and especially RCMP in rural Saskatchewan — perform a critical role for us.

We need to acknowledge their sacrifices — especially, the ultimate ones.