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Guard details concerns over elevator death
Last Updated Fri, 14 Jan 2005 19:54:10 EST
CBC News
 EDMONTON
- The mysterious letter that earlier this week briefly halted an
inquiry into how a 16-year-old fell down an elevator shaft to his
death came from a courthouse guard who repeated his startling
allegations Thursday.
John Tomaino told the fatality inquiry that
police were not called for a half an hour after he heard Kyle Young
plunge down the shaft at the Edmonton courthouse on Jan. 22, 2004.
He also said a photographer showed up to record
the scene moments after Young fell five storeys, before police
arrived and before anyone knew whether the teenager was still alive.
Tomaino testified that when he told his
supervisor that the unidentified photographer might have
contaminated the death scene, he was told to keep his concerns to
himself.
He speculated in court that the photographer
might have worked for either the provincial government or the
elevator company.
No photographs have ever surfaced publicly
showing the scene of Young's death before the police arrived.
Young was in the courthouse for an appearance
on a weapons charge, and was wearing handcuffs and leg shackles when
he started threatening and spitting at the guards escorting him back
to a holding cell, Tomaino said.
He also testified that the elevator door that
was knocked off its track as two other guards tried to restrain
Young had come loose at least twice before, about two years before
Young's death. He said he didn't know what steps had been taken to
fix it.
Tomaino quit his job in November, then wrote
Alberta's solicitor general to outline his concerns about Young's
death.
That's the letter that inquiry counsel David
Syme submitted Wednesday to Judge Jerry LeGrandeur, who is presiding
over the inquiry.
Syme said he had been made aware of the letter
over the weekend.
LeGrandeur agreed to a request from a lawyer
for the other guards to halt the proceedings so that the lawyer
could discuss the letter's contents with his clients.
Young's mother, Lorena Young, left the
courtroom in tears Thursday after hearing Tomaino's testimony, which
she called courageous.
"Because of his testimony and the things he has
revealed, I believe there is one giant cover-up here," she said.
"Somebody is hiding something."
In July, Alberta's Justice Department announced
that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone in connection
with Young's death, based on an investigation done by Edmonton
police homicide detectives.
A fatality inquiry is automatic whenever
someone dies in custody in the province of Alberta.
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