Winnipeg police to get apology for 'starlight tour' claim

A First Nations man who falsely accused Winnipeg police officers of dumping him at the city's edgeand forcing him to walk home in frigid winter temperatures is expected to give a publicapology on Thursday.

Evan Maud is scheduled to issue the apology to media and the Winnipeg Police Service on Thursday morning, as part of a restorative justice process for aboriginal offenders.

Maud, who was charged with public mischief, will have the charges against him stayed in exchange for the the apology, according to officials with the Onashowewin Justice Circle.

"He is remorseful about the things that he has said and how this has all played out. He didn't, you know, expect it to blow up in the way it did," Katina Cochrane, the organization's acting executive director, told CBC News on Wednesday.

"He is very sorry. He wants to apologize and move on in life."

Maud was 20 years old when in December 2010, he publicly alleged that two police officers took him on a so-called "starlight tour,"in which he was driven outside city limits and forced to walk home.

Maud claimed that he was left, without a jacket, to walk back to the city even though it was28 C outside at the time. He also alleged that he was threatened with a stun gun.

Claims proven to be false

The police service investigated Maud's complaint and determined that it was false.

The officers did encounter Maud briefly on Dec. 3, 2010, after he was seen walking in the middle of the road. Police say the officers left after running his name through a database to check for any outstanding warrants.

However, Maud was never put inside an unmarked police vehicle and driven outside the city, as he had claimed. In fact, video footage from Winnipeg Transit showed him boarding a bus about 15 minutes after he was stopped.

As well, GPS data from the police vehicle showed it never left its district, never mind city limits, during the officers' shift in question.

The Onashowewin Justice Circle says Maud, the officers, then-police chief Keith McCaskill, and representatives with the Winnipeg Police Association and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefsmet in June for a restorative justice circle.

Maud has already apologized to the two officers and the police service, but it was decided that he would issue a public apology as well.