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Vol. 60, Issue 196
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Inquest hears tragic story of despair Annalee Gr ant Townsman Staff
He was a Calgary Flames fan, a man who would spend his last dollar to help out his friends and family and a loving father of two. That is the portrait that Irene Kohalyk painted of her son, who died on January 3, 2011 after hanging himself in a Cranbrook RCMP cellblock. The mother of the man showed a different side to her son on October 10 at the coroners inquest into his death. It was the first time the jury heard the details that led up to his tragic suicide. Irene presented her statement and said she was doing so to honour her son Collan Kohalyk and remember the good in his life. “I just want others to know
who my son really was,” she said. “Drugs and bi-polar made Collan into someone at times I wouldn’t know.” Through tears, Kohalyk remembered a happy, content baby that grew shy as he entered grade school in Golden. Around Grade 4, Irene said Collan began to get in fights at school and met with a school psychologist. Irene and Collan’s father Nick Kohalyk divorced when Collan was 13. He was left alone at home a lot so that Irene could work at the town’s mill. “He was such a handsome boy,” Irene said. Her son loved cross country running but eventually the athlete was afflicted by a serious ankle injury that later
required surgery and painkillers. Collan eventually stopped going to school and took a job at the same mill as Irene. “I don’t know when the drugs and alcohol became a problem,” she said. After leaving school, Collan moved around a lot. Irene remembers packing him up and moving him in or out over and over again, always willing to help. Collan eventually purchased a lot at a trailer court and had a daughter with his girlfriend. When his girlfriend left with the girl, Irene said her son was devastated. “Collan took that very hard,” she said, adding that he talked about suicide then.
See INQUEST, Page 3
Jury provides two recommendations Annalee Grant Townsman Staff
The jury for the coroners inquest into the in-custody hanging death of Collan Kohalyk delivered two recommendations late Wednesday evening at the Cranbrook Law Courts. The three-man, two-woman jury recommended to presiding coroner T.E. Chico Newell that all clothing removed by prisoners in the Cranbrook detachment’s older cells should be taken
from the cell immediately and that blood and urine samples taken from patients at admission to hospital for an unnatural death or injury be retained in a frozen state for a month. Kohalyk’s mother, Irene Kohalyk, said afterwards that her son fell through the cracks when he was left unattended in the cell block. “I think he was missed. He was able to do what he did because he disappeared off camera,” she said. Collan Kohalyk used his
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own T-shirt tied to the bars of his cell door to hang himself after he was arrested for a domestic assault. A guard noticed him standing with his back to the bars, but did not physically check him for just under 15 minutes. The guard told the inquest Tuesday that he was busy with other tasks while the incident occurred. Policy states that checks must happen at least every 15 minutes.
See JURY , Page 3
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Annalee Grant photo
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