Sask. man whose allegations led to trial over police 'Starlight Tours' dies at 56

A Saskatchewan man at the centre of an infamous police misconduct trial passed away on April 2.

On Jan. 28, 2000, Darrell Night was picked up by Saskatoon police officers Kenneth Munson and Daniel Hatchen and dropped off on the outskirts of the city by the Queen Elizabeth Power Station — a practice that came to be known as a “starlight tour.”

He was left to walk back in only light clothing in temperatures around -25 C, according to court records. Night pounded on the door of the power station until an attendant heard and he was able to go inside and call a cab.

He died at the age of 56 and was buried on April 17 in a cemetery in Saulteaux First Nation, near North Battleford, according to an online obituary.

Night came forward with his story following the discovery in early 2000 of the bodies of two Indigenous men, Rodney Naistus and Lawrence Wegner, in the same area police left him.

Night’s story was a catalyst that led to the inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild, a 17-year-old Saulteaux boy whose body was found frozen in a field in the northwest outskirts of Saskatoon a decade earlier.

Munson and Hatchen were later found guilty of unlawful confinement in a jury trial.

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The incident shattered Night’s faith in law enforcement.

“Munson and Hatchen have given me a different perspective towards the police. I have no trust whatsoever towards policemen,” Night wrote in his victim impact statement.

It also created “a sharp division of feelings in the community,” said then-Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eugene Scheibel.

“There have been demonstration of protest by the Aboriginal community and others in support of the police. It was a highly emotional trial,” Scheibel wrote in a 2001 judgment.

In a move Scheibel described as “surprising and ironical,” Munson and Hatchen attempted to propose a sentencing circle following their guilty verdict. Scheibel rejected it, saying it required the participants to show some level of remorse — a sentiment he found lacking in the two police officers.

“The issue of accepting responsibility for their actions has been ignored and continues to be ignored in the submissions on behalf of each accused,” he said.

“Hatchen's statement indicates he is remorseful because he feels ‘real shame for the trouble this is going to cause the service and [his] fellow officers.’ There is no reference of remorse for what happened to Night.”

In any case, Night also refused the suggestion.

“Who could fault him for his refusal to participate in what he sees as a sham, one lacking in sincerity, one lacking in true remorse and one where those who have inflicted the wrong accept no responsibility for their actions,” said Scheibel.