Carson Crimeni’s grandfather is not surprised that the officers who first tried to look for the boy have been cleared of negligence – but the family is also impatient to hear of action on the criminal investigation linked to the youth’s death.
This week, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) which oversees all deaths that have any police involvement released a report on the initial response to a 9-1-1 call about Carson, 14.
The report found that the first officers deployed spent about 20 minutes searching for Carson at the skate park where he had last been seen before leaving for another call.
“I wish they had found him,” said Darrel Crimeni, Carson’s grandfather. “I truly do wish they had found him. But I can’t fault them.”
READ MORE: No negligence in RCMP actions in Carson Crimeni death: Watchdog
According to Crimeni, police have told him that the older group of teenagers with Carson may have left with him for a different location because they got wind that the police were on the way.
“I wish these other youths… hadn’t dragged Carson away,” said Crimeni.
He said police have told the family there were approximately 30 teens around the skate park when Carson was allegedly given a huge dose of ecstasy by older teens. Videos of Carson, badly inebriated, were posted to social media.
The boy was only discovered after 10 p.m. to the north of the community centre and high school complex. Police and paramedics tried to revive him, but he died after being taken to hospital.
Crimeni, who was there, said he knows the police who arrived after the second call were doing everything they could to save his grandson.
“You could see the concern on their faces,” he said.
The family does not know for certain whether there will be criminal charges in the ongoing investigation into Carson’s death, said Crimeni.
The police have now interviewed about 140 people, he said, and keep the family up to date with visits every two to three weeks.
But ultimately, the Crown prosecutors have to decide whether charges are laid.
A toxicology report was expected to be finished in late November, but Crimeni said he hasn’t seen it.
“It is a bit frustrating,” he said of the pace of events, more than five months after Carson’s death.
However, he said he is confident the police are doing the best they can.
“I think it’s frustrating for them too,” he said.
In the meantime, the Justice for Carson petition on change.org has continued to slowly accumulate more signatures, reaching 56,000, something for which Crimeni is grateful.
Memorials to Carson, so far temporary, have kept cropping up.
“I’m hoping the Township renames the skate park,” Crimeni said. “It’ll keep it in people’s minds,” he said.
“I think it’ll save somebody.”