Nunavut RCMP officer stabbed in June 11 altercation

A Nunavut RCMP officer is in stable condition after being stabbed during a June 11 altercation in Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

(Updated, June 16, 1 p.m.)

A Nunavut RCMP officer is recovering in Edmonton after he was stabbed during a June 11 altercation in Cambridge Bay.

Officers in the Kitikmeot community of about 1,700 responded to a disturbance just before midnight where an 18-year-old man was reportedly yelling and waving a firearm, the RCMP said in a June 12 release.

Officers pursued the suspect into a residence. Although police discovered the firearm was in fact a pellet gun, the teenager stabbed one of the officers as the officer attempted to detain him inside the home.

The officer was stabbed “numerous times,” a June 16 updated from the RCMP on the incident said.

The injured RCMP member was medevaced to Yellowknife and then to Edmonton, where the officer’s condition is now improving, the RCMP said June 16.

A Cambridge Bay man was arrested and remains in custody.

Buddy Mala of Cambridge Bay has been charged with assaulting a peace officer with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

He is scheduled appear June 27 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.