Burnaby Now May 13 2016

Page 1

NEWS 3

Derby residents speak out

A CLOSER LOOK 11

From the refugee camps

SPORTS 40

5

One throw at a time

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND FRIDAY MAY 13, 2016

LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS

SEE PAGE 15

There’s more at Burnabynow.com

NEWS

‘It’s just breaking my heart’

Mom speaks out after suicide of son released from Burnaby Hospital Cornelia Naylor

cnaylor@burnabynow.com

The last conversation Kim Young had with her 38-year-old son Eddie was full of hope for the future. Burnaby hospital staff had handed him a mobile at his bed, andYoung had told him over the phone that she had found a place for him to live. “I said, ‘Everything’s going to be great. As soon as you get out, everything’s going to be wonderful,’”Young told the NOW. “‘OK, mom. I love you,’ is what he said to me.” Within hours, her only child, who had long struggled with anxiety, depression and drug problems, was released from hospital, headed straight to a bridge near the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station and jumped to his death. “Without even a second thought, he just stood up and

CALL FOR CHANGE: Burnaby mother Kim Young speaks to reporters at a vigil in honour of her son Eddie, who took his own life last week shortly after being released from Burnaby Hospital. Young wants hospitals to change their procedures for releasing patients with mental illnesses.

jumped,” saidYoung, who said she has spoken with a bystander who witnessed Eddie’s final moments. “He knew what he was going to do from out of the hospital, went straight to the bridge and jumped, not even a look back, not even a second thought about it, just

climbed up there and jumped, and it’s just breaking my heart, breaking my heart.” Young blames Burnaby Hospital for her son’s death, saying staff shouldn’t have released him without notifying her. She had brought him there

PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR

three days earlier, after he had shown up at her house dishevelled and incoherent. He told her he had been beaten and drugged,Young said. Despite struggles he’d had with methamphetamine, she said she’d believed him because of bruises

and a needle mark on his arm. “He was not an intravenous drug user,” she said. While Eddie was in the hospital, Young pleaded with staff to contact her before releasing him, but that didn’t happen. Continued on page 8

Man arrested in Burnaby sex assaults Man has been charged in two attacks along a popular Burnaby trail Jeremy Deutsch

jdeutsch@burnabynow.com

After several months of leaving a community on edge, police believe they have the man responsible for

two serious sexual assaults along a popular Burnaby trail. On Wednesday, the RCMP announced two charges of assault against Michal Popek, 36, related to two incidents in Burnaby on

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Feb. 18 and March 6. In all, Popek is facing four assault charges and a break-and-enter charge related to the Burnaby cases and two more in Vancouver in late March and April. Popek is one of six people charged with various but unrelated sexual assault crimes around the region. Police noted none of the

victims knew their attackers. “These crimes justifiably scared people living and working in those communities,” said Chief Supt. Jodie Boudreau, the head of operations for the RCMP in the Lower Mainland. “Fortunately, Lower Mainland police and law enforcement have an unparalleled ability to rapidly share intelligence in-

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formation, analysis, tips and more. I know this contributed to police finding these suspects and advancing charges. Our message should be loud and clear – those who prey on others will be held accountable.” Burnaby RCMP had been investigating five sexual assaults Continued on page 4

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