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A co-ordinated RCMP effort has led to the arrest of a man who has been evading police for seven months.
On Saturday, RCMP asked the residents of Saskatchewan for help locating Jonathan Swiftwolfe, who had been on the run from police since April when he was charged with breaching probation.
He was considered armed and dangerous, and police made it clear they were concerned for the safety of people in the North Battleford area, especially residents of the Moosomin First Nation.
That request was made after members from the Battlefords detachment, the North Battleford RCMP Gang Task Force, the North Battleford Municipal General Investigation Section, and the RCMP Crime Reduction Team, as well as other specialized support units, got together to form a plan to find and arrest Swiftwolfe.
In a media release issued Monday, the RCMP revealed officers had checked out numerous locations on Saturday and Sunday as part of that search. At around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the Mounties allege they discovered Swiftwolfe and a woman driving in a stolen vehicle on a highway near Sweet Grass First Nation. They attempted to pull the vehicle over, but say the car sped away.
Police gave chase, while the Crime Reduction Team laid out a “tire deflation device” to try and stop the vehicle. It worked, and the occupants were arrested without incident. The release alleges a loaded gun was found near the driver’s seat when the vehicle was searched.
Cpl. Tyler Zrymiak with the North Battleford RCMP Crime Reduction Team says the case shows what officers can do when they work together.
“The ability of the Saskatchewan RCMP Crime Reduction Team to immediately deploy all resources to zero in on dangerous individuals who pose an extreme threat to public and police safety, and to do what it takes to take them into custody, is a unique feature of our Team,” Zrymiak said in the release. “To drop everything to pursue somebody, we can do that. And that’s what we did to locate Jonathan Swiftwolfe.”
Swiftwolfe is facing more than 35 charges, including those stemming from the arrest, previous warrants, and other outstanding charges.
The passenger of the vehicle, Cassandra Fox, 24, was also wanted on multiple warrants, including assault with a weapon and failure to comply with a release order. Both will appear at the Battlefords Provincial Court on Tuesday.
