It was a tragedy – but it wasn’t a murder.
However, in a stunning accusation that ground the coroner’s inquest into her daughter’s death to a halt, the mother of Regis Korchinski-Paquet accused Toronto Police of “pushing” her child toward the balcony of their 24th-floor High Park apartment where she then plunged 60 metres to her death.
Clauduette Beals said she heard her 29-year-old daughter scream for help several times. And then – silence.
At the inquest into the May 27, 2020 death of the Afro-indigenous woman, which set off anti-police protests at the time, coroner Dr. David Cameron told the jury their role is to recommend how first responders can better understand and help people dealing with epilepsy – including postictal delirium, a temporary state of severe confusion or aggression that can follow seizures.
SIU cleared officers of wrongdoing
Blaming the police was not on the table – the officers had been cleared of wrongdoing by the Special Investigations Unit , which found that contrary to allegations at the time, witnesses confirmed Korchinski-Paquet wasn’t pushed off the balcony by police but lost her balance while trying to scale the neighbouring balcony .
She had a long history of epilepsy and abusive behaviour that would follow a seizure. And she’d suffered two seizures on the day she died.
“We had absolutely no support and I really did not know enough about epilepsy,” her mom explained, “and all I could do was the best that I could do for her.”
Her son Reece Korchinski, his fiancee and their three children had recently moved in with Beals and Korchinski-Paquet in their two-bedroom apartment.
“It was a little hard but we managed to get through it,” Beals said.
Until that day.
Family called 911 five times that day
There were five 911 calls – the first at 5:13 p.m. from Beals, one from her son and three from her daughter – over a family dispute that began with Korchinski-Paquet’s anger at her brother playing the TV too loud and then escalating to include kitchen knives.
“I said I wanted both of these guys out of my house. I’m a 60-year-old, and I just can’t take this anymore,” Beals recalled telling the first officers on the scene. “And then I said, ‘Listen, is it possible that you guys can take her to CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)? They will keep her there for 72 hours, and I will go there with her.”
She was told that all their names were on the lease and no one could be taken away.
“Now they pushed her in the hallway,” she continued. “I don’t understand that either because Regis actually was calm when they got there. She was calmed down. She could talk to them. She wasn’t cursing at them. So, I just really don’t understand how this could have taken a turn the way it did.”
Beals was in the hallway when her daughter said she wanted to go back into the apartment to use the bathroom.
“I see them pushing Regis out towards the balcony,” her mom claimed. “Then I hear Regis screaming, “Mom, help me! Mom, help me!” And then the last time it was so loud, ‘Mom, help!’ And then I didn’t hear nothing of Regis anymore.”
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‘She’s on the ground’
When Beals demanded to know where her daughter was, she was told she’d climbed over the railing to another balcony. She told them that was impossible.
“My f—ing daughter better not be on the ground. She better not be on the ground,” she recalled saying. “He walks back over to the balcony, comes back over to me, looks me right in my face, don’t run through my apartment or nothing, and tells me, ‘Yes, she’s on the ground.’ And then proceeds to take their slow time and and walk to the elevator. I will never forget that day as long as I live.”
“That’s your belief?” asked inquest counsel Roger Shallow.
“That’s my belief,” Beals replied.
But it doesn’t accord with the facts.
Coroner’s inquest abruptly paused
The inquest abruptly paused as lawyer after lawyer complained this was the first time at the inquest police were accused of “pushing” Korchinski-Paquet to the balcony and none of the officers who have testified had been given a chance to respond to that disproven allegation.
“It actually is contrary to (Beals’) own SIU interview,” noted Fred Fischer, lawyer for the Toronto Police Services Board.
“These officers and the service and the board have lived with the accusation in public that Ms. Paquet was murdered, and have not addressed it largely because it wasn’t a public matter being addressed in the public. But that allegation has been made in public and needs to be addressed.”
The coroner adjourned the hearing so the lawyers could figure out a way forward. It’s set to resume Friday.
mmandel@postmedia.com