Still no inquest date into the death of Brampton teen 5 years later
Published February 7, 2023 at 3:05 pm
As the five-year anniversary of the death of Brampton teen Samuel Brown approaches, the family still waits for an inquest date.
Samuel, who was born with a genetic condition that left him blind, deaf and non-verbal, died at the government-run school, W. Ross Macdonald School in Brantford on Feb. 9, 2018.
Samuel’s family has been seeking an inquest for years.
In October 2021, the province announced there would be an inquest into the death of Samuel but it was delayed to 2022.
Now, as the five-year anniversary of Samuel’s death approaches, there is still no inquest date scheduled.
The family’s lawyer, Saron Gebresellassi, told CBC she will escalate the issue if a date isn’t announced by Feb. 9.
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Gebresellassi, currently in British Columbia, will be in Ontario for one week to mark the five-year anniversary, according to a press release from Gebresellassi’s office.
She will make stops in Brantford, Hamilton, Brampton, Toronto and surrounding regions to represent Samuel Brown and his family and ask Canadians to observe a moment of silence on Thursday, Feb. 9.
“Over 5,000 Canadians have endorsed the request for a Coroner’s Inquest including Canadian Mayors and Canadian elected officials across party lines,” the release states. “Saron Gebresellassi has requested the Premier and his Etobicoke constituency office to observe a moment of silence for Samuel.”
There are conflicting reports on Samuel’s cause of death. The investigating coroner reported he died of natural causes, while an autopsy concluded he died of pneumonia.
Samuel had been a student at W. Ross Macdonald School since he was four years old with no problems for most of his time at the school.
He boarded at the school and came home to Brampton on the weekends.
Samuel’s mother, Andrea, said her son was in perfect health on the weekend of Feb. 2, and she heard no reports of illness until the evening of Feb. 8 when a staff member called to say her son was acting “irritated” and reluctant to get up for dinner.
Andrea requested a follow-up call from the school that night but didn’t hear anything until 7 a.m. the next morning when the school called to say her son was unresponsive. He had died sometime during the night.
Later information from Dr. June Rogers, executive director of the Provincial Demonstration Schools Branch, said Samuel appeared tired on Monday and Tuesday, and uncomfortable on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Feb. 8, Samuel seemed tired and congested, Rogers said. He had a fever later in the evening and staff indicated they checked on him every 30 minutes that night.
When staff checked on him at 6 a.m., Samuel had no vital signs and they started CPR. He was pronounced dead at the hospital just after 7 a.m.
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