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Lawsuit will continue against Mountie

Isabella McClements alleges that police were negligent in their handling of a call to her Alaska Highway home after her daughter, Jenna, started a fire at the residence in early April 2010.
teslinrcmp

A lawsuit will proceed against a Mountie who failed to prevent a Teslin woman’s house from being burnt to the ground two years ago.

Isabella McClements alleges that police were negligent in their handling of a call to her Alaska Highway home after her daughter, Jenna, started a fire at the residence in early April 2010.

Cpl. Shaun Pike arrived with the Teslin fire chief. During the investigation, the daughter told the fire chief she would burn the house down after the authorities left, McClements alleges.

The daughter was “highly and visibly intoxicated” at the time, court records state.

The fire chief told Pike about the threats to burn down the house, McClements alleges. And McClements told Pike she was worried about her daughter being left alone in the house, she asserts.

But the corporal did not investigate further, it is alleged, or remove the daughter from the house. Instead, he took Isabella elsewhere for the night.

Later the night, the daughter burned down the house.

The RCMP lost its bid to have the case thrown out on Oct. 23. To succeed, the force needed to show “absolutely beyond doubt” that Pike owed no “private duty of care” to McClements, Judge Leigh Gower wrote in his judgment. Gower concluded the Mounties didn’t meet this test.

Contact Meagan Gillmore at mgillmore@yukon-news.com