SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Dettah elder who alleged the RCMP roughed him up while arresting him later asked to have his formal complaint against the officers withdrawn, his family says.

However, the police still completed an internal investigation due to the seriousness of the allegations, an RCMP spokesperson said Wednesday.

The police found no wrongdoing on the part of the officers involved in the Jan. 22 incident, where elder Alfred Baillargeon was arrested for being drunk in public and said he sustained bruising and swelling from the way he was handled by police.

An April 30, 2009 letter to RCMP's 'G' Division signed by Baillargeon's daughter, Beatrice Sangris, asked for the investigation to be stopped.

"In the best interest of my father and my family, we will no longer continue with this investigation," Sangris wrote in the letter, which was also sent to the Yellowknife public prosecutions office and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Sangris said she received no response from the RCMP after sending the letter, not until a couple weeks ago when she received a call from the lead investigator assigned to the case, Sgt. Cliff McKay.

"I got a call saying there would be no charges laid," she said. "We weren't expecting for anyone to be charged.

"I think you are the first person who got answers from the RCMP. I'm ticked off. I never got anything. I just want a letter in front of me. It's so sad to see the media had to get the information first."

Sgt. Brad Kaeding of the Yellowknife detachment said he wasn't sure whether anything was submitted to the police in writing from the family.

"I believe she (Sangris) did provide us a letter, but, well, I don't know if there was a letter. If she says there was then obviously there was," he said. "Because it was a serious allegation, an allegation of a statutory violation, meaning a Criminal Code violation of assault, we felt it was in our interest and the public's interest to pursue a full investigation."

Kaeding said he was "under the impression" Sangris was informed the investigation was still being completed.

After many discussions, Baillargeon decided it was best "to forgive rather than demand judgment because he believes in the Dene laws: to love each other as much as possible and to help each other," Sangris said.

Her father said he didn't want to be in the middle of a possible court case.

On Jan. 22, Baillargeon, then 74, was picked up by RCMP for public intoxication. He woke up later that evening in the drunk tank, wearing only a T-shirt, shorts and socks. By morning, his arm was so swollen that he was unable to tie his shoes. A few days later he lodged a complaint with the RCMP.

Kaeding said the RCMP would like to arrange a meeting between Baillargeon and his family and the officers involved in the complaint. Sangris said she would welcome such a meeting.

"I really want that," she said. "I'm not going to point fingers, why you did this, why you did that. I just want to tell them, next time you see an elder drunk, ask him where he lives. Don't bring him to the drunk tank or throw him to the cement. He's an elder."