RCMP CONSTABLE FACES FOUR MORE ASSAULT CHARGES

After an internal investigation, former Lillooet RCMP Cst. Dan St. Amand is
facing four more charges of assault with a weapon. The Crown counsel's
office in Kamloops told the News the charges were laid in connection with
an incident that occurred Oct. 29, 2001. RCMP received a complaint from a
member of the public about the 2001 incident on Mar. 1 of this year.

The four charges follow an earlier decision to charge St. Amand with one
count of assault with a weapon in connection with a drug raid in Lillooet
on Feb. 5 of this year. In that incident, Micheline deStrake, 19, claimed
she was Tasered for no reason during a drug raid at her apartment at 341
Main Street.

No drug-related charges were ever laid in connection with that raid, even
though police reported finding trace amounts of cocaine on a scale, plus
four ecstasy pills in a coat and a bag of marijuana in deStrake's home.

St. Amand was scheduled to appear in court here this week for an
arraignment in connection with the earlier charge. He makes his first
appearance on the four additional assault counts in Lillooet Provincial
Court on Dec. 5. The two cases are not related.

After the Mar. 1 complaint was filed, "an internal investigation was
immediately started at the detachment and completed by the South East
District Internal Affairs Unit," said Cst. Heather Macdonald, the media
relations officer for the Southeast District in Kelowna.

"As the matter is now before the courts, no further information is being
released," she said in a Nov. 1 news release.

St. Amand, who was transferred to Salmon Arm this spring, is on
administrative duty there.

After deStrake and others attending the Feb. 5 party complained about St.
Amand using excessive force, other Lillooet residents came forward with
complaints about the Mountie.

Aaron Parnell said he was beaten and arrested by St. Amand and an auxiliary
constable at a beach party on the banks of the Fraser River three years ago.

When St. Amand and the auxiliary appeared at the party, Parnell, who was
the designated driver for the night, decided to stay at the scene rather
than run away with his friends.

He regrets that decision.

Parnell said he was "severely, severely beaten.

"I believe they fractured one of my ribs, a black eye, bruises across my
back, choke marks across my neck," he told the CBC in February.

Parnell said that when he tried to file a complaint at the Lillooet RCMP
detachment, he was told he had no case and that St. Amand was justified to
use the force he used.

A local woman also claimed she was assaulted twice by St. Amand, during two
separate arrests.