YOANNOU o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-07-03 published
Victim remembered as hard-working, generous
By Ashley HOUSE,
Sun
Media,
Thurs.,
July 3, 2008
Simcoe -- Friends and family of Jeffrey
MARREEL say there was
so much more to him than his drug addiction and criminal record.
"He had a heart of gold," said his mother, Margaret
MARREEL.
Delhi native Jeffrey
MARREEL, 36, collapsed and died after being
Tasered by Norfolk Ontario Provincial Police in Fisher's Glen
on June 23. Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is probing
the case.
Like most little boys,
MARREEL was a handful, Margaret said.
She used to work in the tobacco fields in Aylmer when
MARREEL
was young.
"It was the summer that song The Streak was popular," she recalled.
"And sure enough you'd see Jeff, he was only two years old or
so, but he'd be running through the tobacco field naked. I'd
find a sock here, a sock there, his shorts over there. He was
a handful."
Friends still can't believe he's gone.
"We've been Friends for 20 years," said Ron
MUDFORD, who met
MARREEL in high school. "We did everything together, camping,
concerts, living together. He was a great guy and my best friend.
It's like losing a brother."
Those close to him describe him as hard-working, compassionate
and generous.
"He'd stay with me for awhile, trying to get away from the drugs,"
MUDFORD said, adding
MARREEL was ashamed of his habit and would
be clean for months before something would trigger him to use
again. "I never had to ask him for grocery money or rent because
he just gave it to me."
Margaret remembers her son's generosity following a house fire
in Delhi, years ago.
"The guy came out of the house without any shoes on and Jeff
went and gave him a pair of his," she said. "That was Jeff. Anything
you needed, he was right there with it. You moving? He was helping."
The Special Investigations Unit has assigned 13 officers to the
case. They continue to interview witnesses: and Friends this week.
"Civilian witnesses: who have come forward as a result of the
appeal of local media… have contributed to the investigation,"
said Special Investigations Unit spokesperson John
YOANNOU.
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YOANNOU o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-06-25 published
Ontario man wonders why his son was tasered
'We're killing too many of them… I don't want other parents to
go through what I'm going through right now,' he says
By Caroline
ALPHONSO,
Page A5
The father of an Ontario man who died in police custody after
being hit by a stun gun says he is angry that a taser was used
on his son.
"I'm mad… Did they have to use that taser thing?" Noël
MARREEL
asked yesterday. His 36-year-old son, Jeffrey, died following
a confrontation with police near Simcoe, Ontario, on Monday.
"I heard that 21 other Canadians died by a taser. What's going
on? Somebody has to look into this. We're killing too many of
them and we're going to kill some more. I don't want other parents
to go through what I'm going through right now."
Jeffrey MARREEL died in hospital two hours after the Ontario
Provincial Police responded to a call from a resident that an
unwanted man was causing a disturbance at a beach hamlet in Norfolk
County in southwestern Ontario.
Mr. MARREEL said his son was likely on drugs when police approached
him on Monday morning. Jeffrey
MARREEL had a history of drug
use and was especially downtrodden after he broke up with his
girlfriend last month and then lost his job at a flower nursery
two weeks ago, his father said.
On Monday morning, Jeffrey was about 26 kilometres from his family
home, which is in Delhi, Ontario He was seen loitering in the
small, quiet hamlet of Fishers Glen. A resident who didn't want
his name used said a neighbour saw Mr.
MARREEL carrying a piece
of metal down the road. When asked what he wanted, Mr.
MARREEL
looked like he was threatening with the piece of metal, so the
neighbour called police, the resident said.
Police said they found a "combative male" on the street and used
the taser to subdue him. Mr.
MARREEL collapsed on arrival at
the Simcoe police detachment. He died in hospital.
An autopsy performed yesterday was unable to determine the cause
of death, and further forensic tests are being done.
But Mr. MARREEL blames the taser for leading to his son's death.
The use of the stun gun has come under scrutiny since Polish
immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, was seen last fall on amateur
video screaming and writhing on the floor at Vancouver airport
after he was tasered by Mounties. His death and the public outrage
that quickly followed prompted a national debate on the use of
the stun guns and sparked several probes. The Royal Canadian
Mounted Police said last week that it would curb the use of tasers
in the face of mounting public pressure. Arizona-based manufacturer
Taser International has maintained that the weapon itself is
not lethal.
It is unclear how many times Mr.
MARREEL was hit by the stun
gun. Because he died in police custody, Ontario's Special Investigations
Unit is looking into his death. Spokesman John
YOANNOU said details
of Jeffrey's death, including his state of mind at the time of
the incident, would likely come out during the investigation.
All that has remained of Monday morning's incident is a blood
stain on the pavement, circled with red spray paint.
Residents of the hamlet, meanwhile, are wondering why people
high on drugs are often finding their way into their community.
One resident said there have been other incidents. "I want something
done because of past problems we've had," the resident said.
"People we don't even know are coming at all hours of the night."
Noël MARREEL, too, is looking for answers. He last saw his son
on Sunday when he stopped by the family home. The younger Mr.
MARREEL
didn't stay long. He drifted between his home and staying with
Friends.
The father said his son had been in trouble with the law before.
"He was not an easy child. He's been on drugs off and on since
he was 16. You name it, I think he's tried them," he said. "He'd
be good for a while and the downward spiral would start. Then
he'd be going to jail and I would be bailing him out."
Mr. MARREEL said his son saw a psychiatrist once and checked
himself into a drug rehabilitation centre a couple of times.
"It never took. Every time something would happen, something
negative, he would be on a downward spiral. He couldn't take
negativity at all. If something went wrong, he would do drugs."
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