Man who fatally struck Sask. Mountie with stolen vehicle pleads guilty to manslaughter

A Winnipeg man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and theft of a motor vehicle in connection to the 2021 death of Saskatchewan RCMP Officer Shelby Patton.

Alphonse Stanley Traverse, 43, was originally charged with manslaughter in relation to the incident. That charge was then upgraded to first-degree murder following a preliminary hearing.

Traverse, however, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge on Wednesday in Regina Court of King’s Bench.

Const. Patton was killed when the stolen truck Traverse was driving hit him while he was outside his cruiser initiating a traffic stop in the town of Wolseley on June 12, 2021.

For the first time on Wednesday, court heard details of the traffic stop that led to Patton’s death.

In an agreed statement of face, the crown read Traverse and a woman he was with at the time of the incident were travelling from Winnipeg to Saskatchewan to play VLT games. At the time, VLTs were closed in Manitoba due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traverse also had court orders not allowing him to leave the province.

The two Winnipeg residents left in a green truck but were concerned the vehicle would not make it to their destination.

They detoured to Pipestone, Man. where they stole a vehicle from a business before continuing to Saskatchewan.

The statement of fact went on to say Traverse and the woman arrived in Wolseley around 6:30 a.m. on June 12, 2021.

An RCMP dispatch call from 7:12 a.m. calling Const. Patton to the town for a report of a stolen vehicle was played for the court.

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Patton arrived in Wolseley around 8 a.m. where he found the stolen truck and pulled it over near the corner of Sherbrook Street. and Front Street.

Police interviews of the accused read in court said Patton asked Traverse if he worked for the business from which the truck was stolen.

Traverse lied and said he did.

The officer then asked Traverse to get out of the vehicle so he could confirm the information.

Also played for the first time in court was the dash cam footage from Patton’s RCMP cruiser.

It showed when Patton asked Traverse to get out of the truck, he instead attempted to flee from the traffic stop.

Patton then attempted to stop the vehicle by jumping on the truck’s sidestep.

When the truck turned onto Front Street, Patton fell off the side of the truck and was run over by the rear driver-side wheel, EMS pronounced Patton dead on the scene.

Traverse and the woman sped away from the town, RCMP then arrested them near Francis, Sask. about two hours after the incident, police said.

Const. Patton’s family was in the courtroom as the crown read through the events and showed the dash cam video.

“It was extremely difficult,” his mother Melanie Patton said. “Even though he pleaded guilty, there is just so much trauma that has happened.”

“It is very hard to bounce back from that,” she added.

Traverse will be sentenced on Feb. 29, 2024.

The woman who was with Traverse at the time of the incident, Marlene Velma Louise Pagee, was also originally charged with manslaughter before having that upgraded to accessory after the fact of murder.

Her case remains before the courts.