thursDAY
FIRE PREVENTION WEEK
OPEN HOUSE
Prince george on the prowl
Head over to the Kimberley Fire Department tonight.
Kootenay Ice face off against Cougars
See LOCAL NEWS page 3
See SPORTS page 8
October 11, 2012
The Bulletin
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Proudly serving kimberley and area since 1932 | Vol. 79, Issue 189 | www.dailybulletin.ca B.C. Coroner
Inquest on into death in custody
Witness tells of panicked moments in Cranbrook cell block
ANNALEE GRANT Townsman Staff
Witnesses to the in-custody death of Collan Kohalyk testified Tuesday about a chaotic scene at the Cranbrook RCMP detachment cell block on the night of December 24, 2010. The Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Kohalyk began Tuesday, October 9 and will continue for the rest of the week with Coroner T.E. Chico Newell presiding. The inquest heard from RCMP members, the City of Cranbrook-employed guard in charge at the time, responding B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics and Cranbrook Firefighters who arrived on scene to attend to Kohalyk after hearing the call for help from the cell block in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve. Guard Tom Woloshansky told the inquest he assisted RCMP members around 1 a.m. as they brought Kohalyk into the cells after he was arrested following a domestic dispute. Woloshansky was the only guard on duty at the time and was watching over two females in the cells as well as Kohalyk. Const. Bob Archer and Const. Len Sullivan were the RCMP members who brought Kohalyk into the cell block. Archer said the man was agitated, directing swears towards the RCMP members. Woloshansky and Sullivan both confirmed he was combative as they attempted to remove his clothes down to only one layer, as is standard procedure. “He was swearing, wanting to fight us,” Archer said. “All I can remember was him swearing.”
See INQUEST , Page 3
A 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 Annalee Grant photo trailer court and had a daughter with A MOTHER’S GRIEF: Irene Kohalyk, the mother of the man who hanged himself in the his girlfriend. Cranbrook RCMP detachment cellblock in December, 2010, clutches his picture in front
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