Mother of Maple Ridge gas and dash victim gets closure now that his killer has died
Posted March 20, 2019 9:47 pm.
Last Updated March 21, 2019 9:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) — The mother of a young Maple Ridge man, killed over a decade ago in a brutal gas and dash incident, says she is “numb” to learn that the man who was behind the wheel, has now died.
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Grant De Patie was just 24 years old when he stood in front of the car, trying to stop the driver from leaving without paying in 2005. Instead, he was hit and dragged for several kilometers.
Darnell Pratt, who was 16 years old, later plead guilty to manslaughter and spent some time in prison.
De Patie’s mother Corinne says she heard Pratt had passed away, but she had to confirm that for herself. Today, she received a copy of Pratt’s death certificate in the mail.
“I think I’m a little numb. Just kind of absorbing it all in, and looking at the death certificate and realizing that its the actual issued government document, that it’s true,” she says. “It puts an end to it. This is the final chapter. It has an end.”
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She says Grant’s memory will never die. In fact, the BC Federation of Labour is planning to dedicate a plaque to him sometime in the near future.
“And it just tells the story about Grant, about his death in the workplace,” she says.
Grant’s death lead to the creation of ‘Grant’s Law’, in 2008, which requires drivers in the province to pay before they fill up their tanks.
