An unruly crowd jeered and taunted police attempting to arrest a couple after a lone RCMP officer was attacked in McDonald Park Wednesday night, according to RCMP.

The melee began when the 31-year-old RCMP member responded to a call of a disturbance between a man and woman at 8:30 p.m. in the North Kamloops park.

The officer spotted a man lying across a bike path with a woman sitting beside him. Both were drunk, stated RCMP.

When the officer told them to move along, the man rolled on top of the woman and wouldn't let go.

The officer tried to handcuff the man, who allegedly attacked, pushing the officer to the ground. Then both the man and woman attacked, getting on top of the officer and punching and kicking him in the head and body, stated the police report.

The officer was able to call for help, get back on his feet and pepper-spray both suspects, which disabled the woman, but the man kept coming until a blow to his head knocked him to the ground, said police.

In response to the officer's call for help, six RCMP from the North Shore responded and took control of the suspects. At that point, a crowd had gathered and began yelling at police.

RCMP believe the crowd responded to the mistaken notion all the police deployed were responding to a simple domestic dispute.

"They may have thought it was an overabundance of police showing up for two people in a disturbance not knowing that prior to that, there had been an officer involved in a struggle," Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said in a press conference Thursday.

Dallas Lucien Morin, 26, and Kacy Jade August, 20, appeared in court Thursday on charges of causing a disturbance, assaulting a police officer and obstruction.

Morin has a 2002 conviction for manslaughter.

The officer involved sustained cuts, bruises and a broken finger on his right hand.

Police responders noticed that people in the crowd were recording the incident with cellphones. Investigators are asking anyone with such evidence to contact the Kamloops police detachment at 250-828-3000.

Investigators also ask that anyone who witnessed the domestic assault or the assault against the first officer call the detachment.