WASECA – A man involved in a six-hour standoff with police on Highway 16 Tuesday has a history of violence-related offences and associating with street-gangs, according to parole documents obtained by SASKTODAY.ca.
Highway 16 near Waseca was closed down – and no alternate routes were offered because of safety concerns – during the standoff between Nakota Pooyak, 29, from Sweetgrass First Nation and RCMP. Pooyak was wanted by Correctional Service Canada on a Canada-wide warrant for violating parole conditions.
Parole documents reveal that a judge warned Pooyak, “You can either grow up and become an adult or you can keep doing this kind of thing and then you're going to run the risk at having the Crown look to be applying for dangerous offender status for you at some point in time in your future."
Parole documents show Pooyak has an “extensive criminal history” that began at a young age. He has had numerous convictions for weapon-related offences, assaults with and without weapons, robberies, forcible confinement, intimidation, uttering threats, drug possession, fraud, and flight from police.
Saskatchewan RCMP’s Critical Incident Response Team [CIRT] - a group of highly-trained police officers – was able to end the standoff between Pooyak and the RCMP without any tactical response. Pooyak, and Warren Littlewofe, 32, from Onion Lake Cree Nation and Edmonton, were taken into custody after six hours.
Both Pooyak and Littlewolfe were charged with flight from police, possession of stolen property, and resisting arrest. They appear in Lloydminster court today.
Before the armed standoff, Cut Knife RCMP were alerted to Pooyak’s whereabouts. They located and tried to stop the vehicle Pooyak was in but the driver sped away. A police chase followed onto Highway 16 towards Lloydminster.
Police set up tire deflation devices and the vehicle’s tires were deflated but the driver kept driving on Highway 16 at a high rate of speed before coming to a stop just outside of Waseca.
Battlefords RCMP, Maidstone RCMP, Lloydminster RCMP, Saskatchewan RCMP’s Warrant Enforcement Response Team and Roving Traffic Unit, Lloydminster Rescue Squad, Wilton Police Service and the Province of Saskatchewan’s Protection and Response Team and Ministry of Highways assisted Cut Knife RCMP and CIRT.
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