Chris Byrd, known as “Jimmy” on the streets of Prince Albert, Sask., Had spent the night in police custody cells.
He was sober and about to be released when he heard shrill screams coming from the women’s detention area down the hall.
“My baby! Help my baby! My baby!”
Bird said loud noises were common in detention cells, but that these repeated calls were particularly urgent and clear.
“Boy, this girl is screaming. He wanted his baby, “Byrd recalled in a recent interview.
Bird believes the woman was Kayla French, and asks police to check on her 13-month-old son, Tanner.
Police did not return for five minutes by car to check on Tanner until it was too late. Tanner’s father, Kai Brass, was arrested on the spot and charged with second-degree murder.
The Frenchwoman said she begged the cell staff to save Tanner, but Byrd is now the first person to say publicly that he has heard these cries for help.
Bird said he spoke openly despite all the “problems” he could cause him. He said he consulted with an elder who told him it was important for the truth to come out.
Chris “Jimmy” Bird says he heard a woman begging police to check on her baby while he was in the police cells in Prince Albert. He now believes the woman was Kayla French. (Jason Warrick / CBC)
CBC News accompanied Bird to the police station and received a written record of his imprisonment. The document confirms that both Byrd and the Frenchman were in the cells on the morning of February 10.
“It is good that there is a witness who can confirm what she said. It is important for the public to know what happened, “said Eleanor Sunchild, a lawyer for the Frenchman.
“She just wanted her baby to be as safe as any mother, and now we have a witness to confirm that,” said Bobby Cameron, head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which represents Saskatchewan’s first nations.
CBC News also interviewed nearly a dozen current and former police officers from Prince Albert, members of the Board of Police Commissioners and other officials in the past month. Most agreed to speak anonymously, as they were not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations or private meetings.
They raise new questions about the Baby Tanner case and more generally about the Prince Albert Police Department and its leadership. They reiterated earlier calls that change should start from the top, starting with the removal of Chief John Bergen.
“This woman was treated differently because she was the first nation. They didn’t believe her,” Cameron said in early March. “We want change and we demand it today.”
Bergen rejected a request for an interview on the story. But speaking to the media earlier this year after Tanner’s death, Bergen said he valued his relationship with the local community and all residents.
“The message is received clearly and strongly, and we recognize that we have a lot of work to do to restore trust and trust in the community,” Bergen said. “We are committed to doing that.”
Deputy Chief of Police Prince Albert Farica Prince was provided for an interview instead of Bergen. Prince said he knew nothing that would call into question Bergen’s ability to be boss.
“I have not witnessed, experienced or received any concerns that would negatively affect my confidence in Police Chief Jonathan Bergen to lead our organization,” she said.
Prince declined to comment on any elements of the Baby Tanner case or specific criticism of Bergen, citing an ongoing investigation by the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission (PCC).
She also said she was concerned that employees were sharing information with the media.
“I hope everyone understands that interfering in the investigation is not only against the Police Act, but also potentially criminal,” Prince said.
She said now was the time for the police to work together as a team to focus on the safety and well-being of the community.
The mother prays to the officers
In an interview in March, the Frenchman said she and Tanner lived as prisoners in their home on 23rd Street. The Frenchwoman said she was not allowed to use a phone or computer, leave the house alone or take Tanner to the doctor.
“He said that if I left, the baby and I would be dead, dead,” she said. “It made me stay. I had to put up with it.”
But the Frenchman said that on the evening of February 9, when Tanner was just over a year old, she told Brass she wanted to leave.
“I decided to pack my things. I put on my jacket and hat,” she said.
She said he threw her out of the building and “told me to get off the property and go die”.
Kayla Frenchman says she has repeatedly told Prince Albert’s police that her baby was in danger in the hours before 13-month-old Tanner Brass died. The boy’s father is accused of second-degree murder. (Jason Warrick / CBC)
The Frenchwoman wandered the streets in the bitter cold and darkness, knocking on doors until someone allowed her to use the phone to call the police.
She said two police officers had arrived and she told them the baby inside was in danger.
The Frenchman, a member of Thunderchild First Nation, said police accused her of being drunk, handcuffed her and took her to police stations without entering the apartment to check on Tanner.
The Frenchman said that once in the detention cells, she asked the staff to check on her baby.
She was released hours later and arrived home to see police tape across the yard. Police told her Tanner was dead. She collapsed, crying.
“Why didn’t the cops come earlier?”: A bird
An official involved in the case and two others told CBC News that the Frenchman’s repeated requests did not return police to the basement later that day – Brass himself called them.
Brass’s mother, Rubin Charles, said Brass called her minutes before police arrived. At first, Charles thought that her son wanted to wish her a happy birthday, but her mood quickly changed.
“He said, ‘The cops are coming and I have to do what I did,’ Charles said in an interview.
After a call from her son, Charles immediately called Jody Ellert, the housekeeper.
“[Brass] she called and said he had done something, “Ellert said.” He told her he had called the police and they were on their way. She was very worried. He felt like he might be wrong with the baby. “
Ellert drove to the house and said it was “not at all shocking” to see the police, but she never imagined how serious the situation was.
The house in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where police found 13-month-old Tanner dead and arrested his father, Kai Brass. (Jason Warrick / CBC)
In the two years or so since Brass and the Frenchman moved there, Ellert has filed more than half a dozen complaints about Brass from neighbors or those living in the other apartments in the home.
“I felt he was very controlling. I’ve almost never seen Kayla. He almost always opened the door. She was very quiet, she never made eye contact, “Ellert said. “He was always right in his own mind.”
Neighbors said Brass often cursed at them or turned to them and frowned as he lifted weights in the yard. These neighbors include Chris “Jimmy” Bird, who lives next door to a rented house with several rooms.
Bird was released from police cells on the morning of February 10. He said he returned in time to see Brass, wearing only his pajamas, chained to the yard by police. An employee confirmed the physical description and clothing described by Bird.
“He looked straight at me and spat,” Byrd said.
Bird continued to watch more and more police cars, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles line up on the street.
When the Frenchman later arrived at the scene, but before police broke the news, she saw Byrd in the yard. Bird said the Frenchman asked him what was going on and where her baby was.
Bird said it was then that he realized it was the voice of the Frenchman he had heard in the cells. Bird had just seen emergency services take a stretcher out of the house, but told the Frenchman to go ask the police.
“Why didn’t the cops come earlier?” Why did they leave the baby there? They made a mistake by arresting this lady [Frenchman] instead, “Byrd said.
A few days later, after the crime scene was cleared, Ellert opened the apartment to FSIN employees. They cleaned it up and brought in an elder to perform a ceremony for Tanner’s spirit. FSIN is helping a Frenchman who now lives in Saskatoon.
Charles, Brass’s mother, said she often left money, diapers or food for Tanner. She said there were no signs that the Frenchman was unhappy.
Tanner Brass’s grandmother, Rubin Charles, ordered the necklace, which bears his fingerprint, to be made after the 13-month-old’s death earlier this year. Tanner’s father, Kai Brass, is charged with second-degree murder. (Submitted by Rubin Charles)
Recently, Charles made a pendant bearing Tanner’s imprint on one side and his name on the other. She said things could have been better for everyone if Prince Albert’s police had entered the apartment when the Frenchman begged them.
“I had a hard time dealing with the loss of my grandson and the loss of my son because of the system,” Charles said. “I miss them so much.”
Brass’s lawyer, Rebecca Crookshanks, said there was no comment on the case at the moment, as she was still in court.
Critics are calling for the police chief to be fired
In early March, the FSIN, the Grand Council of Prince Albert and others demanded the immediate dismissal of Bergen and all the officers who ignored the Frenchman’s pleas.
“This mother was held against her will and her baby paid the highest price for their negligence,” said Thunderchild First Nation leader James Snakeskin. “Baby Tanner didn’t even have a chance to grow up and live a beautiful life. The death of this baby affected not only Thunderchild but many other early nations. It’s just racism.”
Bergen initially said he would wait for the results of the investigation by the Public Complaints Commission before taking any action. But shortly afterwards, he removed the two junior officers who first arrested the Frenchman, saying he had seen the PCC’s preliminary findings.
One day after that …
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