Calgary, AB (Calgary Herald) - An Alberta RCMP officer is facing a criminal charge after being accused of breaking into a woman’s home.
Keith Anderson, 22, who is seven months into his first RCMP posting in Cochrane, Alta., was charged this week with one count of break and enter. He has been suspended from active duty with pay. Besides the criminal charge, Anderson is also the subject of an internal RCMP investigation.
The 75-year-old woman told the Calgary Herald she was watching television with her brother in her Cochrane home Feb. 14 just before 4 a.m. They heard a loud bang and ran to investigate.
“We flew upstairs and there’s this guy standing there inside my door,” said the woman, who didn’t want her name used.
The door had been kicked in so hard, the frame was damaged, she said. The man appeared inebriated, she added.
“If I was alone, I would have had a heart attack. I was so shocked,” the woman said.
She said the young man identified himself as a constable, and left when they told him to get out.
Within minutes of calling 911, the woman says police arrived and picked a man up a few doors down.
“I don’t know why he picked my house. Maybe because he saw the lights on,” she said.
The woman, who celebrated her birthday later that day, said the incident left her terror-stricken.
In a news release Friday, Cochrane RCMP Sergeant Patrick Webb noted that the criminal investigation was conducted by an outside RCMP unit, with a non-police member of the Cochrane’s Protective Services Advisory Committee included as an independent observer “to clearly demonstrate the RCMP’s commitment to conducting a diligent, thorough and unbiased investigation.”
The Lethbridge Regional Police Service will also be conducting a review of the investigation, the release said.
Cochrane is about 35 kilometres northwest of Calgary.
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