Investigation declares Saskatoon man's claim he was dropped outside city by police 'unfounded'

The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) says its officers have been cleared of taking a man outside of the city and dropping him off.

SPS received a report from the Provincial Complaints Commission Monday about the alleged incident, according to a news release.

In April, Ken Thomas said he was confronted by police while smoking outside a bar.

He told reporters he was placed in the back of an unmarked, black SUV and was forced to get out on the outskirts of town.

GPS records show that no officers had been in contact with Thomas that night, according to police.

"Our service cooperated fully with the investigation from its inception, and assisted by providing logs of GPS for our fleet as well as video and audio recordings which are automatically activated in all our cars," said a statement from Police Chief Troy Cooper released Tuesday. "This information was undoubtedly very useful in proving that there was no contact between the SPS and Mr Thomas on April 21st."

The case brought up memories of "Starlight Tours" incidents that plagued Saskatoon in years past. The term refers to alleged cases of the Saskatoon police taking Indigenous men and women to the edge of the city in the winter and abandoning them there.

Two officers were fired in 2004 after an inquiry into Neil Stonechild's death ruled the officers had the 17-year-old in their patrol car the last night he was seen alive.

No one was ever charged in connection with Stonechild's death. The police service later apologized to Stonechild's family for the way the investigation was conducted.

Possible prosecution

Police said there have been seven allegations of Starlight Tours since 2012 and that all were investigated and were unfounded.

In the Thomas case, Chief Cooper stated he had reached out to prosecutors to look into whether the case warranted further investigation.

His statement said the force was confident its officers would be exonerated but needed to wait for the investigation to be completed before commenting.

"We were required to await the process that follows a formal complaint to the PCC rather than speaking publicly about our early findings," he wrote. "To maintain community trust it is important to allow for, and fully cooperate with, thorough investigations by an independent agency such as the PCC and we did just that."

Saskatoon police said all of its cars have in-car video and audio, as well as GPS tracking, which is never purged. The equipment activates automatically.