REGINA — Mounties say an SUV driven by a Saskatchewan Roughrider player reportedly left a gas station with unpaid fuel before a fatal crash.
They also say CFL player Jayden Dalke had been driving the wrong way down Highway 11 at the time of the crash and that alcohol and cannabis were found in his vehicle.
Mounties say the silver SUV driven by Dalke slammed into a black SUV, killing both drivers, near Lumsden, a community northwest of Regina, about 9 p.m. Saturday.
The report of stolen fuel came in about a half-hour earlier from a Lumsden business, said RCMP spokesperson Mandy Maier.
“We received a report around 8:27 p.m. from a business in Lumsden of a silver SUV leaving without paying for fuel,” Maier said Monday.
“The investigation has determined this was the same silver SUV that was involved in the collision.”
Dalke, 30, and Bhishma Rajyaguru, a 22-year-old man from Regina, died at the scene.
RCMP say there were no reports of Dalke’s SUV driving erratically before the crash.
There were no passengers in the vehicles. Mounties said autopsies and toxicology tests would be done in the investigation.
On Monday, the Roughriders held a news conference to remember Dalke.
The linebacker was a sixth-round pick in the 2022 CFL draft out of the University of Alberta. He appeared in 68 career regular-season games, registering 69 tackles, 31 special-teams tackles, three forced fumbles, an interception and a sack.
Dalke appeared in all 18 regular-season games for Saskatchewan in 2025 as well as the West final and the club’s 25-17 Grey Cup win over the Montreal Alouettes.
“Jayden was a loved teammate,” said Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day. “You never left the conversation with Jayden where you didn’t feel happy.
“He loved what he was doing, loved the game of football, loved his teammates.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2026.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press