Sister of Montreal man who died while illegally jailed wants video footage released
Global News
Nicous D'Andre Spring died at Montreal's Bordeaux jail after an altercation with jail guards on Christmas Eve, a day after he was supposed to be released to come home.
More than a month since her younger brother died, Sarafina Dennie says she still has trouble eating or sleeping.
She says she struggles to understand how her brother Nicous D’Andre Spring — a quiet person who loved boxing, music and playing with her young children — died at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail after an altercation with jail guards on Christmas Eve, a day after he was supposed to be released to come home to his family.
“It breaks my heart,” she said in a phone interview.
“It’s been over a month now, and we’re not really getting any answers at all. And we would love to get answers for why they did this to him. He did not deserve what they did.”
Spring, 21, was illegally detained at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail on Dec. 24 when guards fitted his head with a spit hood and pepper-sprayed him twice.
Quebec’s Public Security Department has described Spring’s detention as “illegal” because he was ordered by a judge to be released on Dec. 23 but was still behind bars the next day when he suffered injuries leading to his death.
Dennie said the family has received little information from investigators about the moments leading up to his death, and that much of what they learned has come from reading news online. She said they hadn’t heard from Spring and hadn’t known his release had been ordered, so they didn’t know known how close he’d come to making it home for Christmas.
Now, she is calling on authorities to release any relevant video footage of the incident to her family, and said she wants the public to see it as well.