Winnipeg man pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of Saskatchewan RCMP officer
CBC
A Winnipeg man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in the June 2021 death of Saskatchewan RCMP Const. Shelby Patton.
Patton was killed on June 12, 2021, while conducting a traffic stop in Wolseley, Sask., a town east of Regina. The driver of the vehicle Patton had stopped — which had been stolen in Manitoba — accelerated, hitting and killing the 26-year-old officer.
Alphonse Stanley Traverse was originally charged with manslaughter, but the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder in November 2021.
Under the Criminal Code, the murder of an on-duty officer is automatically considered first-degree murder.
Traverse pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter during a hearing Wednesday at Court of King's Bench in Regina.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of a motor vehicle.
Melanie Patton, the mother of the fallen officer, said she's relieved the man who killed her son has taken responsibility.
She said the guilty plea lifts a weight off the family's shoulders, but a long path remains ahead.
"It's still trauma. There's just having to go to court — just trying to do the victim impact statement is terrible," she said.
"And then I do still feel like I'm living in hell because he's not here."
Melanie said the years since her son's death have been "absolutely terrible." She described the death as having put a dark cloud over their family, and there's still no coming out of it.
"I just want to make sure everyone knows that it was not an accident and at the same time, Shelby did not make a mistake," she said.
Traverse is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 29, 2024.
Marlene Velma Louise Pagee, another resident of Winnipeg, is facing one count of accessory after the fact to murder for her role in Patton's death.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's threat to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods is "like a family member stabbing you right in the heart."
The Salvation Army can't fundraise in the Avalon Mall after this year. It all comes down to religion
This is the last Christmas season the Salvation Army's annual kettle campaign will be allowed in the Avalon Mall in St. John's, ending a decades-long tradition.
The province and district social services administration boards say plans are in place to ensure people on social assistance do not miss out on benefits as a result of the strike by Canada Post employees.
Near the exit to Truro, N.S., a cluster of colorful tents and a lone RV can be seen alongside Highway 102, some tucked under the overpass for shelter from the elements.
Police and Public Trust, a project of the CBC News Atlantic investigative unit, scrutinizes the largely off-limits police complaint and discipline systems across the region. Journalists are using access to information laws and, in some cases, court challenges to obtain discipline records and data.
Toronto police have arrested a GTA woman who they allege scammed dozens of Taylor Swift fans out of more than $70,000 by promising them tickets that never materialized.
Montreal was, in years past, considered a haven for renters. But those days are long gone.
WARNING: This story details violent events surrounding a fatal police shooting.
It took Gordon Frentz over 14 hours to drive through the snow from Grande Prairie, Alta., this past weekend to compete at this year's Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
The coroner's inquest into the drug-related deaths of six men in custody at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre will revisit 2018 recommendations relating to eight other inmate deaths to determine what's been done to implement them, the inquest's lawyer said Monday on the first day of hearings.
Emily Walstrom was expecting to lay her father to rest this month, but instead, she says his cremated remains are stuck in a Canada Post facility in B.C., delayed by the ongoing national postal strike.