Help for Ryley

Hello, my name is Laura and I am fundraising on behalf of my son, Ryley.

On Sunday, October 2nd at 5:30; our 16 year old, nonverbal, Autistic son was arrested and thrown in jail cells in St Albert, while playing on the playground behind Albert Lacombe Elementary, in his grandparents’ backyard. We’re from Queen Alexandra, in Edmonton, but we were visiting his grandparents in St Albert. They’ve lived in the same home for over 20 years, and we’ve visited hundreds of times since Ryley was little. I was at the Royal Alexandra Hospital with my son until almost 2am, after I called 911 for help to find him as he had disappeared from the playground minutes after we finished dinner. I was then contacted by a Constable only to find out the local RCMP had “apprehended” him. And that he’d been held in custody, then sedated, and transported to hospital.

He has injuries, soft tissue damage to his wrists and head. His emotional trauma is much worse. He was treated reprehensibly. There’s no excuse. And we need your help to fund a lawyer’s consultation fee, so we can attain video footage, and advocate so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

He is only 16. He is Autistic. He is not incapable of being unsupervised for small amounts of time, if he’s in a familiar place and within eye shot of us. He was alone on the swings for 28 minutes, while we finished dinner. The police swooped in, and picked him up over the span of 8 minutes. He was ambushed.

He had handcuffs on, was in a jail cell. No way to communicate. Was screaming in the cell, and crying, and smashing his head on the wall, according to EMS. They also reported that Ryley had up to 6 police officers sitting on his body, in a prone position.

And all because he was called-in as an adult drug addict on the playground by someone in a white SUV. Two police vehicles pulled onto the playground and took him down like a criminal while he was playing.

He couldn’t say his name.

He wasn’t given a chance.

We need footage of what happened from body cams, and from the jail cell. our security footage will not be enough, as it’s across the yard.

He’s a MINOR. He’s Autistic.

This can’t happen. I don’t know who’s more traumatized, him or us.

The police CANNOT get away with treating human beings so horribly. There’s clearly no sensitivity training.

No NonViolent Intervention training.

No awareness.

And this is TERRIFYING.

I’ve posted on social media within St Albert and it sounds like we are not the first family to suffer from a situation like this. Something must be done.

Officers must be held accountable, and real improvement must be made. I’m reaching out to you, on behalf of Ryley, who could not speak.