Mission RCMP officer acts swiftly to keep autistic teen safe in high-risk incident

MISSION – Mounties in Mission say one of their police officers acted quickly last month to resolve a high-risk incident involving a 14-year-old non-speaking girl with autism who began driving a group home vehicle and struck a car and a fence.

According to a statement from Constable Sukh Sidhu, General Duty A-Watch spokesperson in Mission, staff at a group home in Mission called police on the evening of Thursday, April 16 after a 14-year-old non-speaking autistic girl managed to get the keys for the group home’s Dodge Grand Caravan. Cst. Sidhu says the girl entered the Grand Caravan and began driving it before colliding with a parked car, a fence and subsequently reversing into a tree. At this point, the van became stuck, but the girl attempted to keep driving.

The first responding officer on scene promptly identified the potential risks of the situation, especially since the girl was still in the driver’s seat with the engine running, but was not communicating with anyone. She had all of the doors locked, and no spare key was available.

“The officer recognized that the vehicle needed to be turned off, to avoid causing injury to the girl or anyone else, but also wanted to avoid traumatizing her by getting into a physical confrontation,” Cst. Sidhu said. “Breaking a window was the only way to quickly get into the vehicle, so the officer went to the passenger side of the vehicle to do so, with the hope that it would be less frightening for the girl (as opposed to breaking the driver-side window), and would reduce the chance of injury to her from the broken glass.”