By battlefordsNOW Staff

Onion Lake, North Battleford officers save life of suspect

Dec 14, 2018 | 11:46 AM

Two RCMP officers and a police service dog spent 2 hours walking more than 12 kilometres in the snow and woods to track down a suspect and ultimately save his life as he was mere minutes from entering a diabetic coma.

On Dec. 3, at around 6:15 p.m. Onion Lake RCMP stopped a stolen vehicle on Highway 797 near the Onion Lake Cree Nation. While three occupants stayed in the vehicle and were arrested, the driver fled north into a snow-covered field.

Within ten minutes, Dog Handler Corporal Colin Pyne and Police Service Dog Soap from North Battleford arrived and joined Onion Lake officer Constable Michael Page in the search for the driver, who was lightly dressed.

At around 8:15, they found the driver in the middle of the woods, just north of Highway 797 in -8C temperatures.

While escorting him back, the driver collapsed, face first in the snow. The officers picked him up, wiped the snow off his body, zipped his jacket up and, holding him, continually talked to him and encouraged him to carry on walking to avoid hypothermia, and requested paramedics meet them at the highway.

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When they reached the highway, the officers placed the driver in the back of a police vehicle, took off his wet, snow-covered shoes and jacket and placed an emergency blanket over him as they waited for paramedics to arrive.

The man was treated for low blood sugar and hypothermia and paramedics estimated that the driver was just 5 or 10 minutes away from going into a diabetic coma, believing if he was not found, we would have died of exposure.

He is now facing various charges.

cjnbnews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW