The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team will now investigate the arrest of a teen with autism in St. Albert this week.
ASIRT said in a tweet Saturday afternoon it "had been directed" to investigate the Oct. 2 arrest, a reversal from just days ago when the St. Albert RCMP detachment indicated no review from the provincial law enforcement watchdog would occur.
During the arrest, a 16-year-old boy with autism was reported as a drug user and put into a cell where his family says he hurt himself.
RCMP say officers responded to the Albert Lacombe Catholic Elementary School following multiple complaints about a man at the playground.
"Officers were unable to determine the identity of the male and due to the concerns for his safety and that of the public, he was taken into police custody," St. Albert Insp. Ryan Comaniuk told reporters.
"While in police custody at the St. Albert detachment, in the cells, the male began engaging in self harm. St. Albert RCMP officers immediately contacted EMS, who attended and provided first aid before transporting him to the hospital."
In a fundraiser to cover lawyer consultation fees, Edmonton woman Laura Hawthorne said she is the mother of 16-year-old Ryley, who was detained by St. Albert RCMP.
She said her son is nonverbal and described the playground as in his grandparents' backyard.
"He is only 16," Hawthorne said. "He is Autistic. He is not incapable of being unsupervised for small amounts of time, if he's in a familiar place and within eye shot of us.
"He was alone on the swings for 28 minutes, while we finished dinner. The police swooped in, and picked him up over the span of 8 minutes. He was ambushed," Hawthorne added.
When asked at a press conference Wednesday, Comaniuk said ASIRT would not be involved in the incident review.
"No, it won't be subject to an ASIRT investigation. However, St. Albert RCMP do have an incident review model that will be considered in this instance just to have an opportunity to take a closer look at this," Comaniuk said.
Comaniuk added that as information about the incident was gathered and after conversations with his "management team," RCMP decided it would conduct the internal review.
"There was felt a need that this was one of those instances that we could just take a closer look at," he said.
ASIRT says further details about its investigation are "to follow."
CTV News Edmonton reached out to the RCMP for comment, who deferred to ASIRT.
As of publication, ASIRT had not responded to a request for comment.
Patrick Higgerty, the family's lawyer, told CTV News Edmonton in a statement that ASIRT's activation in relation to the incident represents a "potentially positive development."
"We look forward to reviewing ASIRT's report and hope it will serve some justice," Higgerty added.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Alex Antoneshyn
