'It's painful for a parent': Mother protests in support of son with autism who was arrested while playing

Laura Hawthorne (far right) protests outside the St. Albert RCMP detachment on April 6, 2024, after Crown prosecutors decide not to lay charges against Mounties for arresting her teenage son with autism. (Galen McDougall/CTV News Edmonton)

The mother of a teen with autism who was arrested by RCMP while playing says she has never received an apology.

Laura Hawthorne and a small group of protestors gathered outside the St. Albert RCMP detachment on Saturday.

Hawthorne's 16-year-old son Ryley, who is non-verbal, was arrested in 2022 while playing at a playground near his grandparent's home.

"They took advantage of the fact that he was unable to defend himself against questioning, and he was wrongfully arrested," Hawthorne said.

In late March, Alberta's police watchdog found there were grounds for charges to be laid against the officers for arresting the teen for public intoxication.

According to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the Mounties mistook Ryley for a drug user and treated him as one.

"[Ryley] was not intoxicated. He was a non-verbal autistic youth," ASIRT said in the report. "Three of the four civilian witnesses who observed [Ryley] recognized that he could be or was likely neurodivergent."

In jail, the teen hurt himself banging his head on the door. At one point, officers held Ryley down by kneeling on him while paramedics administered a sedative.

• 'Police hurts': Autistic Alberta teen living in fear after RCMP arrest, family says

"It's painful for a parent," Hawthorne said about the ordeal Saturday. "You just want your kids to be safe, and you want them to be accepted … They shouldn't end up in a jail cell for going to a playground."

Despite ASIRT's findings, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service decided not to lay charges, saying the evidence was not enough to support a "reasonable likelihood of conviction given the higher standard of proof required to proceed to trial."

Hawthorne is disappointed by that decision, as well as what she sees as a lack of remorse by the RCMP and the arresting officers.

"I've never heard from the RCMP to do with this incident, at all," she said. "We've never received an apology … All the officers involved have remained in active duty."

The arrest has profoundly affected her entire family, Hawthorne said.

Her three children can't visit playgrounds together, and Ryley can't be anywhere where there are uniformed officers.

"It's limited our outings, it's limited everything," she said. "It's taken away every sense of security he had.

"We always taught him growing up, you go to a badge, someone in uniform when you're in danger or you're in trouble, and that was stripped away."

Hawthorn hopes her protesting can bring attention to a need for better education and understanding neurodiverse people like her son.

"I hope it inspires people to want to care, to lead with empathy and kindness a little more often than fear. Learn about autism … Just look it up, look into it, don't judge people instantly."

You can find ASIRT's full report on the arrest here. 

The incident is also being examined by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Galen McDougall and Alex Antoneshyn