The Canadian Press
REGINA, Canada — The Saskatchewan government has appointed a neutral observer to oversee a police review into how a dispatcher and the RCMP handled a 911 call from four people stranded in their car.
Two women and two children were driving to Loon Lake from Prince Albert when the car got stuck in mud and water in a remote area near Big River. Records indicate someone in the car called 911 on April 8 but no officers were sent out.
One of the women, Kerri Canepotatoe, tried to walk out to get help, but was found dead on the side of a highway. The three left behind, Melissa Rabbitskin and her two young children, weren’t found for seven days.
Judy Orthner, a spokeswoman with the Ministry of Corrections, Public Safety and Policing, says the observer will act for the province to make sure the RCMP’s internal investigation is done properly.
''It will be a review of the circumstances related to the RCMP’s activities,’' Orthner said Saturday. ''We don’t know specifically — and we’re just gathering that information right now — about how the 911 call had been handled.’'
She stressed that the review is about the way the call was dealt with.
''There is no concern with the 911 system related to this emergency situation ... and there certainly aren’t concerns with the 911 system overall.’'
Orthner explained that a 911 emergency operator usually determines who needs to be involved — police, fire or ambulance — and notifies the appropriate service. That service then decides how it should respond.
RCMP have said the stranded travellers tried calling 911 three times, but only got through once to a call centre in Prince Albert. It was rerouted to an RCMP operational communication centre where it was answered by a civilian dispatcher.
''Based on the information he was given by the caller, he did not dispatch RCMP members to the scene,’' said chief Supt. Randy Beck.
The Mounties confirmed that the person who called 911 asked for a tow truck but it’s not clear if one was sent out.
Beck said the dispatch system works as a rule, but he acknowledged that ''in this instance, there appears to be a departure from regular procedures in handling of a call for assistance.’'
Orthner said the province hopes to have some answers within a matters of weeks.
Chief Bruce Morin of the Big River First Nation said late Friday night that cellphone service in the area is ''really spotty.’' He suggested what happened might have been avoided if there had been better coverage.
Canepotatoe walked some 60 kilometres before apparently collapsing on the side of a secondary highway. After her body was identified, police learned that she’d been travelling with another woman and two children. That’s when an air and ground search began.
Thursday night, a week after the call for help was made, rescuers found the car and its three occupants.
Morin said the fathers of both women are from the Big River First Nation, although the women belonged to Ministikwan First Nation, also known as Island Lake First Nation.
He said he believed the survivors would never have been found if Canepotatoe hadn’t tried to walk for help.
''If she’d have stayed over there, nobody would probably have known that they were there. But by her walking out like that and going through that ordeal that she did go through, she saved three people.’'
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