Death of a Colleague

Cst. Styles

On Tuesday, July 5^th the family, friends and colleagues of York Regional Police Constable Garret Styles will lay him to rest. Styles, 32 years of age, was pinned beneath a vehicle driven by a 15 year-old driver and dragged for 300 metres while calling for help on his radio. Three teen passengers were also in the car. Constable Styles died in hospital.

The loss for all who knew and loved him is immeasurable. Their journey will be long and arduous. It will be fraught with tears and sadness, slightly comforted knowing that Styles was a hero and gave of his life doing a job that he was devoted to. 

Constable Styles' death certainly unleashes a flood of memories around my husband’s death. He too, was a dedicated police officer devoted to keeping law and order in our streets and being of service to his country. Naturally, his death rippled far and wide in the community affecting not only family, friends and colleagues, but people in the community who barely knew him as well as those who didn't.  His death scarred the hearts of many. Although we, his family, suffered tremendously, his colleagues also marched forth in a sea of profound sorrow.

My husband, Cst. Breese

I remember going through his clothes and uniforms to return them to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). While I carefully packed things up, my heart was also breaking for his fellow officers assigned to clean out his locker and wondered whose belongings would now fill the space. I thought about the next officer to drive his police car. I wondered how the next officer to ride the motorcycle that he was injured on would feel.  I knew his ‘peace officer family’ was wounded too and that their journey would be equally as long and difficult.

A major difference between his colleagues’ grief journey and ours was that they had to return to work as scheduled. They had no time to work through the process of losing a ‘brother’.  Although there were resources available to them, twenty-one years ago grief counselling was not promoted in a big way. And the aftermath of unresolved grief manifested over the next few years for many of his colleagues in painful ways.  There were some who drank heavily, the relationships of others became unstable - a couple of them spiralling downward and ending in divorce. There were other officers who retired… ones that I never thought would dream of leaving the force. Everyone’s world had shifted and it seemed as though we had all lost our footing.

The impact the death of a colleague can have in the workplace should not be dismissed. People should be encouraged to seek support to work through their feelings and connection to the person. It’s not weak or shameful to be shaken by a co-workers death. The reality of loss is that it can blast the sturdiest of foundations, leaving people with an overwhelming uncertainty.  It’s important to work through the process so they can go on to live life fully.

To Constable Styles’ family, friends and colleagues… may God be with you and comfort you in knowing that he served his community and country with dignity and grace. May the precious memories you have bring you comfort.