Curtis Dagenais
| Curtis Dagenais | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Curtis Alfred Dagenais |
| Born | 1965 |
| Occupation | farmer |
| Known for | pled guilty to killing police officers |
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Curtis Alfred Dagenais is a Canadian convicted of the fatally shooting two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers and the attempted murder of another, on July 6, 2006.[1][2]
On Friday, July 7, 2006, two cars carrying the three officers were dispatched to his mother's house in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan, in response to an alleged assault.[3][4] As police arrived, Dagenais left the residence in his truck and was followed by two police cars. Dagenais led the police to Mildred, a town about 12 kilometres away from Spiritwood.[3][4] Shots were then exchanged between him and the police. Both officers in one car were shot in the head. Dagenais fled the scene, and a large-scale manhunt was initiated.
The RCMP assigned 250 officers to the manhunt.[5] Dagenais mother called upon him to surrender the day after the shooting.[6]
On July 15, 2006, eight days after the shooting, two of the injured officers, Robin Cameron and Marc Bourdages, succumbed to their injuries.[5]
Shortly before turning himself in to Police, on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 Dagenais sent a rambling five page letter to The Edmonton Sun.[7] While the letter acknowledged shooting the officers, it claimed it was their fault, because they wouldn't leave him alone. It also claimed they fired on him first.
One notable aspect of Dagenais decision to surrender is that it followed a conversation with two regular citizens, not a negotiation with the police.[8][9] Farmers Rosanne and Armand Smith found Dagenais lying in one of their hay fields.[10] He seemed distressed, and his first request of them was to be given a hug. They invited Dagenais into their home, and served him some coffee. After speaking with them he agreed to let them take him to the police station to surrender.
As of February 2007, the Globe and Mail reported he still did not have legal representation.[11]
Dagenais pled guilty and was convicted in 2009.[10] During an interview on July 6, 2016, on the tenth anniversary of the shooting, Dagenais's uncle, Herb Jaster, told reporter Dan Zakreski, "If I shot and killed him, I'd feel about as much remorse as if I shot a mangy coyote."[2] Zareski had interviewed Dagenais, in jail, in 2006.
References
- ↑ Curtis Dagenais se rend, Radio Canada, 2006-07-18. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. (in French)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dan Zakreski. Interviewing Curtis Dagenais after the Spiritwood, Sask., shooting and manhunt: CBC reporter Dan Zakreski recalls speaking to Dagenais at correctional centre, CBC News, 2016-07-06. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “Dagenais mailed a rambling, self-justifying five-page letter to the Edmonton Sun while he was on the run. That's when I knew that I'd have a chance to talk to him, if he survived getting caught.”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Saskatchewan police scale back manhunt, CBC News, 2006-07-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dagenais charged in RCMP killings, CBC News, 2006-07-19.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Meaghan Craig. The Spiritwood RCMP shooting: 10 years later, Global News, 2016-07-08. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “RCMP marshalled as many resources as possible from across the country to assist in looking for Dagenais who was now on the run. At its peak, 250 officers searched the area — some eight by 10 kilometre area — for any sign of the fugitive.”
- ↑ Dawn Walton, Katherine Harding, Hayley Mick. Suspect in RCMP slayings surrenders, Globe and Mail, 2006-07-19. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “According to police, Curtis Alfred Dagenais, 41, appeared to be in good condition despite his apparent 12-day run from police through swamps and brush after Spiritwood RCMP constables Marc Bourdages, 26, and Robin Cameron, 29, were shot after a chase on July 7.”
- ↑ Apparent letter from RCMP shooting suspect blames police, CBC News, 2006-07-18. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “It blames the RCMP for the July 7 shooting that killed two Saskatchewan Mounties and alleges that the police fired on the writer before he got out of his truck, CBC Radio News said.”
- ↑ Karine Langley. Catching criminals one hug at at time: The case of Curtis Dagenais, Accidental Jurist. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “The second point which arises out of Ms. Smith and her husband encouraging Curtis Dagenais to give himself up. Curtis Dagenais was not brought out of the hay field by a crisis team, or a swat team but rather two members of the public. We believe that the public should take a greater role in our criminal justice system.”
- ↑ Stephanie Taylor. ’He wanted to talk:’ Saskatchewan woman recalls finding Mountie killer in field: Rosanne Smith and her husband Armand managed to convince Curtis Dagenais to surrender in July 2006, after he led police on a nearly two-week manhunt., Leader Post, 2019-08-01. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “For a Saskatchewan woman who discovered a fugitive Mountie killer hiding in her family’s hayfield more than a decade ago, the intense search for two young murder suspects in northern Manitoba stirs old memories.”
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Moncton manhunt causes Saskatchewan man to relive nightmare RCMP shooting, CTV News, 2014-06-06. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “The couple took him in for coffee and eventually convinced him that surrendering was the right thing to do.”
- ↑ Accused in RCMP shooting still has no lawyer, Globe and Mail, 2007-02-28. Retrieved on 2022-06-14. “But lawyer Bill Roe says court officials are close to reaching a deal on how much he should be paid to take on the case of Curtis Dagenais.”