LLOYDMINSTER – A trial has been set for a street gang member involved in a six-hour armed standoff with RCMP on Highway 16 east of Lloydminster earlier this year. The trial for Nakota Pooyak, 29, from Sweetgrass First Nation, on charges of flight from police, possession of stolen property, and resisting/obstructing a police officer, will be held in Lloydminster Provincial Court March 2024.
Pooyak has been denied bail and remains in custody since his arrest in February. He allegedly refused to stop for Cut Knife RCMP on Feb. 7. A high-speed police chase ended near Waseca after RCMP used a spike belt to stop his vehicle.
Highway 16 was closed for approximately six hours as Sask. RCMP Critical Incident Response Team crisis negotiators negotiated with Pooyak and Warren Littlewofe, 32, from Edmonton, Alta. They were taken into custody through non-lethal intervention techniques.
Due to safety concerns, no alternate routes were offered while the four-lane Trans-Canada Highway was closed to traffic. Battlefords RCMP, Maidstone RCMP, Lloydminster RCMP, Saskatchewan RCMP’s Warrant Enforcement Response Team and Roving Traffic Unit, Lloydminster Rescue Squad, Wilton Police Service, the Province of Saskatchewan’s Protection and Response Team, and Ministry of Highways assisted.
At the time, Pooyak was wanted for being unlawfully at large. Parole documents obtained by SASKTODAY.ca reveal that he has a history of violence-related offences and associating with street-gangs. 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.
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