The Grey family doesn’t know how long Colin Grey was in custody at the Ambassador Bridge the day he died. They don’t know when he was transported to Windsor Police headquarters. They don’t know how long he was in police custody.
They don’t know what information was passed between border services and police. They don’t know why help wasn’t called before he collapsed on the morning of November 29 outside of police HQ.
“We believe a coroner’s inquest is absolutely vital,” said Toronto lawyer Joel Dick who is representing the Grey family. He doesn’t know if the policies are deficient or if the policies were followed. “The best way to get to the bottom of all of these questions, and make sure this never happens to another family is to have a coroner’s inquest.”
The Grey family requested an inquest earlier this month but the Office of the Chief Coroner told CTV News that the death does not meet the criteria of a mandatory inquest under the Coroner’s Act.
A decision regarding a possible inquest won’t be made until their investigation is complete - which could take several more months.
“A civil action would give us some of these answers, but the goal of a civil action is different. The goal of an inquest is to make sure it never happens again,” said Dick.
Colin’s brother Derek Grey is angry, “I don’t wish this on anybody so let’s get some answers. Let’s find out what happened. I wanna see that this never happens to anybody else again.”
Colin’s widow Rose is hoping for the same outcome as she continues to struggle with the loss of her husband. “I’m hoping to get an answer as soon as possible... So no one [else has to] experience what we’re experiencing right now.”
Dick says the best way to get answers to the remaining questions is through an inquest.
He says he was surprised the circumstances surrounding Grey’s death didn’t automatically trigger one, “We believe that what happened here is indicative of a broader problem and so we believe that this should be a case where the coroner should exercise their discretion and look at these policies and hopefully solve this problem for future families.”
The family says the preliminary coroner’s report showed there was no alcohol in Colin’s system when he died. “We’re not even surprised because we all knew that he had no alcohol whatsoever on that day,” Rose said.
Dick says they are still waiting for the official cause of death and points out that an autopsy could take up to six months to finalize.
