ASIRT clears Lloydminster Mountie who shot at stolen truck

EDMONTON — The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said a Mountie in eastern Alberta didn’t do anything wrong when he shot at a stolen truck as it attempted to run him down last winter.

The incident happened on Jan. 27, 2015 in the border city of Lloydminster. RCMP initially responded around 3 a.m. to a liquor store break-in, where two trucks were being used to load up alcohol. They took off as police responded.

READ MORE: Shots fired by Lloydminster RCMP during spike belt deployment

Shortly afterwards, a black Chevrolet truck was spotted in a remote area. When an officer activated his lights the truck drove head-on towards the cruiser, which swerved out of the way to avoid being hit.

The truck was then pursued through the city. Another officer laid down a spike belt, but the truck turned off the road in an attempt to avoid it. 

The officer then grabbed the belt and moved it to another spot on the road where the truck would emerge. As it approached the repositioned spike belt, the truck braked suddenly and veered hard to the right, avoiding the spike belt and driving directly towards where the officer was standing, ASIRT said.

At this point the Mountie pulled his gun and fired repeatedly at the driver, hitting the truck. ASIRT said the truck made a sharp correction at the last moment and narrowly missed hitting the officer by, at most, one to two feet.

The truck tried to drive away on a highway, but broke down because one of the bullets ended up hitting the radiator, causing the engine to overheat.

Joel Dillon, 20, from Lloydminster, and Lynden Belly, 29, from Onion Lake, Sask., were arrested. Both were charged with breaking and entering, possession of stolen property and evading police while being pursued. Belly was also charged with dangerous driving.

The truck was later determined to have been stolen and had a damaged ignition.

An ASIRT investigation concluded there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer involved committed any criminal offences.

ASIRT communications officer Lynn Neufeld said RCMP also followed the second truck, a dark grey 1993 Chevrolet, outside Lloydminster. However that pursuit was abandoned when the officer-involved shooting occurred. The second pickup truck and the driver have not been found.

At the time the truck had a GMC grill and tailgate with chrome side panels. The back window of the truck had white tape in a Union Jack design, and the vehicle was equipped with green under-glow lighting.

No one was hurt during the incident.