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No charges laid in courthouse elevator
plunge
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Wed. Jul. 21 2004 11:28 PM ET
 Two
guards who were escorting a teenage prisoner when he plunged five
storeys down an Edmonton, Alberta courthouse elevator shaft will not
be facing charges.
The Edmonton Police Service announced Wednesday
that there is insufficient evidence to proceed with a case.
According to police spokesperson Dean Parthenis,
a Calgary prosecutor has reviewed evidence from the police
investigation of the case and determined the 16-year-old boy's death
was non-criminal.
Kyle Young was being escorted in handcuffs and
shackles for a court appearance on weapons charges last January,
when he fell to his death.
A police investigation concluded Young
plummeted down the shaft when the elevator doors opened prematurely.
There were, however, reports a scuffle was
heard before the fatal incident.
Hours after Young's death, a government
spokesperson said that when the doors opened, he unwittingly stepped
into the empty shaft.
That conclusion seemed to contradict assertions
from the elevator manufacturer, which maintained it was impossible
for the doors to open without an elevator car waiting on the other
side.
At the time, a company representative told The
Canadian Press that their initial inspection revealed that the doors
had been damaged somehow.
The elevator had just passed a safety
inspection the month before.
Since his death, Young's mother, Lorena, has
complained a police investigation would not be able to get to the
bottom of the deadly incident.
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