Gravity Sucks

But the Gravity of this situation sucks even more.

I can't get Kyle James Young (the 16 year old Edmontonian child who was killed, while in custody, in an Edmonton Courthouse this week) out of my mind.

I have quite a bit of experience working within security and policing agencies (including the military), so I have seen the good, the bad AND the UGLY. And this is ugly. Ugly enough to make me sick to my stomach - because I think I already know how the story ends.

Every Security Agency I have had the pleasure of working with have been professional organizations, with the exception of one. I only worked there for a few weeks, but the time I spent there was an education I didn't neccessarily need. I couldn't believe how much those people got away with. From my perspective, most of them were over zealous cowboys who continually escalated situations unfairly, often ending them in the worst way possible for the person involved, just because they could.

I have little or no tolerance for the Security "Guard" who relentlessly provokes somebody into a response and then turns around and squeals "Assualt, Assault". But there are lots of them in the industry. Freaks, cop-wannabes, all on a power trip. People who hide behind their uniforms and organizations. People who distort lines so much there eventually aren't any. People who spend copius amounts of creative energy to come up with stories to cover their asses, or the collective asses of thier buddies.

But what happens when something so big happens that no story, no matter how creative, can cover your ass?

How does a 16 year old boy, handcuffed, shackled and in custody, end up dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft?!?!

A witness statement alludes to a struggle - he said he heard repeated bangs so loud they shook his cell. The sound of guards pushing an unarmed child into the doors of an elevator to teach him a lesson?

"Then they brought him around the corner where we could see where the elevator was and they kept hitting him against the elevator."

The elevator company says an inordinate amount of damage was done to the elevator doors before they opened.

"When we went down there, the elevator door was significantly damaged, basically hanging off of one of the cables," said Ryan Wilson, vice-president of ThyssenKrupp Elevator. "It is basically impossible for those doors to come off or to open prematurely when there is no elevator there," he said. "Elevator doors just don't open. They just don't. Engineering-wise it is just impossible for that to happen."

And then a boy is thrown down an elevator shaft.

Regardless of lack of intent to murder this can not be called an accident.

Don't insult us. People take elevators, safely, every day. How does a 123 pound 16 year old child, handcuffed with feet shackled, escorted in complete custody by two guards, "fall" down an elevator shaft, plunging six stories to his death?

Who knows what happened? I'll admit everything is speculative at this point, and we might never know all the facts. And answers won't change the situation anyway, but perhaps closer scrutiny of the people we trust to handle these types of situations will bring some positive results when the industry purges itself of these bullies.

My heart goes out to his Mother.

There are certain things we trust in when we raise our children in Canada. And one of the most important things is that a person in uniform is a safe person.

Even bad kids deserve to grow up.