Big Smoke appears in court

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Special constable Willy Big Smoke made his first court appearance last Thursday in Turner Valley on a charge of assault causing bodily harm. He was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing July 5.

The charge stemmed from an incident on the Eden Valley Reserve on Jan. 16, when Big Smoke and a second RCMP officer, Const. Brian Wallace, responded to a domestic dispute between Rodney Pelletier and his common-law wife Karen Dixon.

Family members claimed Pelletier had been beaten. He now lies in Calgary's Foothills Hospital permanently paralyzed. Pelletier had been detained at Turner Valley RCMP detachment before being taken to Oilfields Hospital at Black Diamond, where he was x-rayed before being rushed to Foothills, where his life hung in the balance for several days.

Big Smoke has been suspended from the RCMP pending the outcome of his court appearances. Wallace was not charged.