Paralyzed for life

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Chances are Rodney Pelletier will never hug his two young daughters again.

But at the moment three-year-old Amber and two-year-old Jheri are just about the only bright spots in an otherwise dreary landscape.

"Sometimes I feel that's the only thing I'm living for," says 21-year-old Rodney, and Eden Valley resident, who is trapped in a hospital bed on the 11th floor of Calgary's Foothills Hospital. He expects to be there for months.

He's hooked up to a respirator - most likely for life - paralyzed from the neck down, wondering what he has to live for.

"Just look at me," he says in a barely audible voice through dried and cracked lips. "It's getting harder and harder as time goes on."

His life hasn't been the same since the night of Jan. 16 when he was arrested at his home by Special Const. Willy Big Smoke and Const. Brian Wallace of the Turner Valley RCMP detachment following a domestic dispute.

Big Smoke was charged with assault causing bodily harm following an RCMP investigation. He'll make his first appearance in provincial court at Turner Valley March 22. He was suspended from work with pay March 5, the same day he and Wallace returned to duty after taking stress leave on a doctor's advice. Wallace won't be charged.

Family members accused police of having beaten Rodney and leaving him helpless and near death on the jail floor at Turner Valley for 12 hours before taking him to Oilfields Hospital in Black Diamond, where he was X-rayed before being rushed to Foothills.

Pelletier won't talk publicly about the night, because he doesn't want to jeopardize a lawsuit filed by his lawyer against the RCMP seeking damages for pain and suffering, future care and loss of earnings.

"He feels the whole night was a big mistake," says Sheila, his sister and best friend. She's been front and center since the incident occurred, dealing with the media, to ensure Rodney isn't forgotten.

"The Bible says you have to learn to forgive, but it's hard," he say. "Look at the shape I'm in. I can't do anything."

But his sister gently corrects him. "He's come a long ways. He doesn't realize it, but he has. His mind wants him to get better just like that but his body doesn't want to. It'll take him awhile to learn that."

His 19-year-old common-law wife of four years, Karen Dixon, dropped plans after the incident to charge him with assault. They had been separated for a year but had just gotten back together when the arrest occurred.

Calgary RCMP Supt. Brian Davison said earlier that Pelletier was "pretty aggressive when he was arrested. He had been drinking quite a bit."

"But Pelletier denied provoking police. "I did nothing wrong. I didn't put on a struggle or anything."

Sheila, who has been at the hospital every day, says the incident brought Rodney's six sisters and two brothers closer together. "We learned to overcome difficulties. We learned to put things behind us."

But, she says, "it's starting to take its toll on me. I pray to my higher power to keep me strong and to guide me. There's a lot of emotions I never thought I had to feel," she says. "I never, ever wish this on my worst enemy. Nobody should have to be put through this kind of experience. It's pretty devastating."

She and Rodney have been close since their family broke up when they were preschoolers. As permanent wards of the government, they grew up in the same homes together.

And when they turned 18, they "stayed close, watching out for each other."

When Rodney was hospitalized, she moved back from Saskatchewan, where she'd been working as a receptionist on Ochapowace reserve, where Rodney was born.

"He's shown me a lot of things about life I never understood before and vice-versa. I just encourage him and I'm there for him. That's all I can do."

Amber, Jheri and the rest of his family are also there for him. But for the first three weeks he was in the hospital when he was in especially rough share, he refused to see his daughters. He didn't want them to se his head clamped or the feeding tube in his arm.

Although he had improved quite a bit by the time they saw him, they were still apprehensive. Jheri thought she had two daddies, says Sheila, "the one from before and the one now."

now the girls know their father can no longer walk or move his legs. "They kiss him. They hug him. They're there for him. When he sees them, it brightens up his day, but it hurts him, too. He misses holding them."

After spending seven weeks in the trauma unit of intensive care, he was moved up to the neurocritical care ward March 7. It's going to be tough getting used to a new floor and new staff, he says.

Meanwhile, Supt. Davison says there's no reason for the incident involving Pelletier, although "tragic," to jeopardize the special constable program or to tarnish its image.

Nor does he see any reason for the incident to set back relations between police and Eden Valley residents. "These things do happen. Should we all be tarred, because of one isolated incident?" he asks.

"The business we're in, these things are going to happen," he says. "It's not the first time it's happened. I hope it's the last. But it's not the first time, that's for sure," he says.

But he says there have been no prior serious complaints against Big Smoke, despite "all kinds of rumors and innuendoes" to the contrary.

Davison revealed Wallace is being transferred from Turner Valley to High River RCMP detachment - 40 kilometers to the southeast - but he denied it was related to the Pelletier incident. But Big Smokes's future, like Pelletier's, is up in the air. "He's suspended with pay until such time the force makes a decision about what they're going to do."

"What Rod needs now is family support," says friend Judy Royal of Gleichen. Her 19-year-old son Dylan is confined to a wheelchair, because of a rare disease.

Eden Valley is 65 kilometers southwest of Calgary.