Sask. RCMP arrest man who allegedly bulldozed son's home with people inside
A Saskatchewan man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly bulldozing his son's home, from which two people made a narrow escape.
Ronald Fatteicher, 59, of the Rural Municipality of Calder, faces 12 charges in total.
RCMP responded Tuesday to a call around 9:15 p.m. CT at a home located near Calder, located roughly 50 kilometres east of Yorkton near the Manitoba border.
The scene at the farm was one of total destruction. A large part of the house was reduced to rubble. The yard was littered with insulation, chunks of wood and personal belongings. By Thursday, the bulldozer still sat on top of the remains of the home — a short string of Christmas lights hanging from the cab.
Fatteicher's daughter-in-law, who asked not to be named, said she and a neighbour were in the home when the bulldozer struck.
She recalled narrowly escaping the bulldozer, running through the front door and jumping clear over the deck, before hitting the ground running.
"I'm going to die today," she remembered thinking. "The glass had just missed me, as I ran out of the house."
As the event unfolded, the man on the bulldozer was screaming her name, she said.
The neighbour, she said, escaped through the garage, kicking a door down just before the structure collapsed.
Hiding in tall grass nearby, she called 911. She then called her husband and waited for him to return home. When he did, she said, the two of them stopped Fatteicher from fleeing the yard and held him until RCMP arrived.
She said her father-in-law had shown unusual behaviour before, including another episode where he'd driven his bulldozer into the yard, but nothing more happened.
She and her husband had just been married in October, she said.
"We are devastated. We have lost our home — everything. Our memories are gone."
According to an RCMP news release, a man was transported to hospital with minor injuries, but the two people inside the home escaped without injury.
Fatteicher has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of assaulting a police officer and one count of intimidation of a justice participant, among other offences.
He made his first appearance in Yorkton provincial court on Thursday morning.
- MORE SASKATCHEWAN NEWS | Aunt of Nadine Machiskinic appeals to public at AFN meeting
