A 26-year-old man has been charged after police say a Good Samaritan, who was trying to help people stuck in a ditch by a northwest Alberta highway, was assaulted in an attempt to rob him of his snowplow.
In a news release issued on Wednesday, the RCMP said officers were called to a robbery in progress on Highway 43 west of Valleyview, Alta., at 1:31 a.m. on Tuesday.
“Police located the victim who told police that he had stopped his snowplow to assist motorists that had hit the ditch in the truck they were driving,” police said.
At that point, one of the truck’s occupants attacked the snowplow driver before trying to steal the vehicle, police alleged.
“The Valleyview RCMP wants to commend the snowplow driver for trying to render assistance to other motorists in temperatures below -25 C,” the RCMP said.
Jake Goodswimmer of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has been charged with robbery, assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and driving while disqualified.
Valleyview is located about 350 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.