No charges for RCMP officers who arrested non-verbal autistic teen at Alberta playground
Police thought Ryley Bauman was impaired on drugs, misidentified him as a suspect
RCMP officers who arrested an autistic 16-year-old at a St. Albert playground will not face criminal charges even though Alberta's police watchdog says the teenager was mistakenly identified as a drug user and unlawfully detained.
In a report released Wednesday, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) detailed results of its investigation into the October 2022 detention of Ryley Bauman.
ASIRT concluded that charges of unlawful confinement and assault should be considered against the three arresting officers. The Crown, however, has declined to pursue a criminal case, citing the unlikelihood of conviction.
Ryley was arrested at a park near his grandparents' home, then detained in a holding cell, where officers tried to subdue the teen by holding him down with their knees.
"If a police officer arrests an individual without the proper grounds, they may be committing the offence of unlawful confinement. If force is applied in the arrest, the officer may also be committing an assault," Matthew Block, ASIRT's assistant executive director, said in his report.
"The [teen] was not intoxicated. He was a non‐verbal autistic youth."
Block said three of the four civilian witnesses who saw the arrest recognized the teen could be, or likely was, neurodivergent, a term used to describe people whose brains develop or function differently.
The officers, however, believed that Ryley was intoxicated, and mistakenly identified him as one of two men who lived near the park and were known to police.
"The subject officers all seem to have thought they were dealing with specific known drug users," Block wrote. "This appears to have affected how they treated [him]."
The officers' names were omitted from the investigation report.
The report doesn't name Ryley, who functions at the level of a seven-year-old.
No charges were laid against Ryley and none are being considered. His parents have spoken to CBC about the trauma he suffered during his arrest and their anger over a lack accountability for the officers involved.
In a statement to CBC on Wednesday, Aaron Krause and Laura Hawthorne said there should be repercussions for the harms their son suffered in custody.
"The damage of this decision is insurmountable to Ryley, and to our entire family," the statement reads. "These officers must be held accountable, and the system must change."
"Ryley did nothing wrong," his parents wrote. "Ryley is a member of this society, and had every right to play on that playground without fear of being arrested or assaulted. We are hoping the Crown will change their mind, and in doing so, do what is right in this case, for Ryley."
According to the ASIRT report, police received a call around 4:14 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2022.
The caller said there was someone at the Albert Lacombe School playground who either had a "severe handicap" or was intoxicated on drugs and should not be there alone.
The first officer arrived about 30 minutes later and found Ryley playing in the sand and on the swings.
The officer said he asked the teen repeatedly for his name and address but was ignored.
Ryley walked away from the officer and left the park.
The officer began checking the plates of parked vehicles. One was associated with a man who lived nearby who was a known to police as a drug user.
The officer marked in his file that he had just encountered that person on the playground.
The officer later told ASIRT investigators that his grounds for arrest were "the yelling, flinging of arms, and erratic behaviour, the obsession of the repeating words over and over, and a grown adult in the playground."
He said Ryley's pupils appeared dilated and that he was preventing the lawful enjoyment of the park because others were afraid of him.
About an hour after police first arrived, Ryley returned to the playground and got on a swing. The responding officer returned to the park and called in two others to assist in an arrest.
The two additional officers believed they were preparing to apprehend a different suspect, a second man who was "high on drugs and known to be combative with police."
A cyclist saw the three officers converge on Ryley and tell him he was being arrested for public intoxication. Ryley was yelping, the investigation found.
The officers asked Ryley if he had any weapons and repeatedly told him to spread his legs so he could be searched. Ryley continued to scream and say "it's OK" and "Mom," the investigation found.
Audio recordings reveal the responding officers used the names of the two drug suspects interchangeably during the arrest. One officer suggested the suspect was drunk. Another said the person they thought they were arresting had once "snapped a guyʹs neck."
The officers asked Ryley repeatedly for his name and address. At one point, Ryley gave his first name but also responded to their questions by saying "playground" and "it's OK" and screaming, the investigation found.
Two officers came from behind, grabbed Ryley's arms, handcuffed him and placed him in a police vehicle.
With Ryley detained in the back seat, the officer drove to the home of the man he first suspected in the case, the known drug user who lived nearby. The man was at home.
Ryley was taken to the RCMP detachment. Inside the police vehicle, he kicked the door and hit his head repeatedly against the partition between the front and rear seats.
At 6 p.m. he was placed in a holding cell. His handcuffs were removed. Within minutes, he had hit his head on the cell door four times.
At 6:37 p.m., five officers and two paramedics entered the cell. Ryley "was already on the ground and the officers held him down by kneeling on him," the report says.
The paramedics refused to speak to ASIRT investigators but medical records show that a sedative was administered before Ryley was taken to hospital. His injuries included swelling to the front of his head and redness on his wrists.
At 7:28 p.m., police at the detachment learned that Ryley's family had reported him missing.
A 'good faith basis'
Block said there were reasonable grounds to believe that charges against the officers were warranted but on Feb. 8, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service recommended no charges be laid.
He said ASIRT and the Crown are bound by different standards when assessing the viability of charges.
Officials with the Crown said the standard for prosecution was not met.
"While the officers were mistaken that Mr. Bauman was intoxicated by drugs, there was evidence that police acted on a good faith basis and had reasonable grounds to arrest Mr. Bauman," the prosecution service said in a statement to CBC.
"There was no reasonable likelihood of conviction given the higher standard of proof required to proceed to trial."
In November 2022, the national watchdog agency for the RCMP launched its own investigation into Ryley's arrest.
However, in a recent statement, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said its probe was temporarily suspended pending the conclusion of ASIRT's investigation.
Officials with the complaints commission said its findings and recommendations will be made public.
Alberta RCMP have not commented on the results of their internal investigation. RCMP have not said if the officers involved have faced any disciplinary action.
Watch: Parents of autistic teen detained by RCMP call for answers:
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