Questions still unanswered for Prentice Family in son’s death

May 26, 2009
Sandra Stanway, Brooks Bulletin

There are so many questions the Prentice family has about their son’s death including why parents Shirley and Bill did not have a chance to say goodbye.

On May 6 Brooks resident Grant Prentice, 40, died as a result of an altercation with police. A Taser was deployed but its use is under investigation.

“The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. on May 6. He passed away in hospital at 8:25 p.m,” said Prentice.

“The special agents came over at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning. They came to the door and let us know that Grant had passed away,” said Bill Prentice.

He added that he asked why the family was not notified earlier and they were told when there is a death like that it becomes a crime scene and it gets turned over to Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.

The parents arranged to see Grant’s body at 11 a.m. that day.

“They got hold of us and said the body was already on its way to Calgary,” he said.
Asking how the body was identified without the family present, Prentice was told fingerprints were used.

“It was frustrating,” he said.

The family let the body go on to Calgary, though they know they could have had it returned to Brooks for a viewing.

“We chose not to. I saw him the morning before. He’d been over to the house with Shirley the night before. I just thought it best to leave it be,” he said.

The family is waiting for the results of the autopsy which according to Clifford Purvis, executive director of ASIRT, is still a few weeks away.

As time goes by Bill has been reflecting on what happened. He said he’s not blaming anyone.

“My only concern is I’m not too sure if the Taser was really required. Hopefully when they get the results back it’ll tell me what he had in his system,” Prentice said.