Tuesday, August 17, 2010 The local Rotary clubs were in a generous mood.
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ary Annivers 1985-2010
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NATURE ❚ Campground Blues
Andrea Debruin (left) and Christy Woodruff, from Langley, play together at the day-use beach in Golden Ears Park on Saturday. Full campsites forced many would-be campers to turn their weekend into a day trip. Matt Law/TIMES
Inquest
‘A dog would be treated better’: Wife by Amy Steele asteele@mrtimes.com
Karen Young says an animal would have been treated better than her husband was in the care of the BC Ambulance Service and the Ridge Meadows RMCP in October 2008. “A dog would be treated better. I just can’t believe a human being was treated so badly. They had complete disregard for his life,” said Karen. Karen’s husband Ian Young died of a brain injury after lying in RCMP cells unmoving for eight hours. A coroner’s inquest into his death wrapped up Friday. “The only thing I can say is it was so, so needless a death and I would never, ever, ever want anybody to go through what we went through, my daughter and myself.” The inquest heard that Young had been out for drinks at By Baileys pub in Hammond
and told his friends he was walking home. Shortly afterwards a passerby called 9-1-1 when they found Young laying half on the sidewalk and half on the road. Paramedics assessed Young, saw evidence of a head injury, yet still released him to the RCMP where they knew he would be put into a drunk tank. Paramedics testified they did ask Young repeatedly if he wanted to go to the hospital but he refused and signed a form to that effect. In order to get Young into the police car paramedics lifted him from a stretcher into the car because he couldn’t walk. Once at the police station he was rolled onto a blanket and dragged across the floor to his cell. No police officer entered the cell to check on him from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. A jail guard expressed concern to the RCMP watch commander that an ambulance should be
called for him but the watch commander said Young was very drunk and “sleeping it off.” There was testimony that a paramedic told an RCMP officer he didn’t want to take Young to the hospital and wait for hours only to be told he was drunk. The jury at the inquest has made 15 recommendations aimed at preventing a similar death. However, Young is unconvinced anything will change. “From what I know and what I’ve heard I’m not very confident because it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. It’s happened and it’s happened and it’s happened (people dying in the RCMP drunk tank),” said Karen. “These recommendations, they get sent out. They don’t have to take them on. They can just look at them and say, well that’s not feasible. They don’t have to be applied.” Karen believes her husband was treated
differently because he was intoxicated and therefore didn’t get the help he needed. She pointed to an RCMP policy: “Persons who appear to be ill, injured, unconscious or not fully conscious at the time of the arrest shall not be placed in the cell unless a physician has declared the person medically fit for incarceration.” The inquest also heard that police are trained not to assume an unresponsive person in cells is just “sleeping it off.” Karen said if an ambulance had been called early enough her husband would have lived and been fine. “If there’s a question they should go to the hospital,” said Karen. “I think ultimately if they had followed the policy in place then this wouldn’t have happened.” See INQUEST, Page 3
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