Drunken mob attacks hospital in Saskatchewan
CTVNews.ca Staff
Date: Sat. Oct. 1 2011 10:33 AM ET
Saskatchewan RCMP say charges will be laid following a violent attack by a drunken mob that destroyed a police truck and damaged an ambulance and the hospital in the northwestern Saskatchewan community of La Loche.
The episode began when two RCMP officers tried to pull over the drivers of two ATVs who were driving down a road in the town of 2,500 on Friday night. When one of the drivers rolled his ATV into a ditch and was injured, about 70 people left a nearby house party to confront the officers.
Prince Albert RCMP Insp. Jay MacInnis described the ensuing bottle and rock throwing as "one of those situations that erupted quite quickly, suddenly and unexpectedly."
"I'm not sure that the people who were engaged in the crowd were really that interested in an explanation," he said, adding that many of the attackers were "under the influence of alcohol."
The two officers were able to get the injured ATV driver into an ambulance and took him to hospital. The truck they left behind was set on fire.
The mob also attacked the ambulance, smashing the windshield with rocks, then smashed windows at the entrance to the hospital. The officers, who were assisted by fellow officers from the detachment, used pepper spray to keep the mob at bay and had to barricade the doors to keep the attackers outside the hospital. The crowd was eventually dispersed.
The RCMP said the two officers and the paramedics in the ambulance were hit by bottles and rocks but were not injured.
With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Staff
Date: Sat. Oct. 1 2011 10:33 AM ET
Saskatchewan RCMP say charges will be laid following a violent attack by a drunken mob that destroyed a police truck and damaged an ambulance and the hospital in the northwestern Saskatchewan community of La Loche.
The episode began when two RCMP officers tried to pull over the drivers of two ATVs who were driving down a road in the town of 2,500 on Friday night. When one of the drivers rolled his ATV into a ditch and was injured, about 70 people left a nearby house party to confront the officers.
Prince Albert RCMP Insp. Jay MacInnis described the ensuing bottle and rock throwing as "one of those situations that erupted quite quickly, suddenly and unexpectedly."
"I'm not sure that the people who were engaged in the crowd were really that interested in an explanation," he said, adding that many of the attackers were "under the influence of alcohol."
The two officers were able to get the injured ATV driver into an ambulance and took him to hospital. The truck they left behind was set on fire.
The mob also attacked the ambulance, smashing the windshield with rocks, then smashed windows at the entrance to the hospital. The officers, who were assisted by fellow officers from the detachment, used pepper spray to keep the mob at bay and had to barricade the doors to keep the attackers outside the hospital. The crowd was eventually dispersed.
The RCMP said the two officers and the paramedics in the ambulance were hit by bottles and rocks but were not injured.
With files from The Canadian Press
