Chris Bird, known as “Jimmy” on the streets of Prince Albert, Sask., Had spent the night in police cells.
He had calmed down and was about to be released when he heard penetrating screams from the women’s detention area in the hallway.
“My baby! Help my baby! My baby!”
Bird said loud noises are common in holding cells, but that these repeated calls were especially urgent and clear.
“Boy, this girl is screaming. She wanted her baby,” Bird recalled in a recent interview.
Bird believes the woman was Kyla Frenchman, and begged officers to check on her 13-month-old son, Tanner.
Police did not drive back for five minutes to check on Tanner until it was too late. Tanner’s father, Kaij Brass, was arrested on the spot and charged with second-degree murder.
Frenchman said he begged cell agents to rescue Tanner, but Bird is now the first person to publicly state that he heard those cries for help.
Bird said he speaks despite the “problems” it may cause him. He said he consulted an elderly man, who told him that it was important for the truth to come out.
Chris ‘Jimmy’ Bird says he heard a woman begging officers to check on her baby while he was in police cells in Prince Albert. He now believes the woman was Kyla Frenchman. (Jason Warick / CBC)
CBC News accompanied Bird to the police station and obtained a written record of his imprisonment. The document confirms that Bird and Frenchman were both in cells on the morning of February 10th.
“It’s good that there is a witness who can validate what he said. It’s important for the public to know what happened,” said French lawyer Eleanore Sunchild.
“I just wanted her baby to be safe, as any mother would, and now we have a witness to prove it,” said Bobby Cameron, head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which represents First Nations Saskatchewan.
CBC News also interviewed nearly a dozen current and former Prince Albert police officers, members of the board of police commissioners and other officials over the past month. Most agreed to speak anonymously, as they were not allowed to discuss ongoing investigations or private meetings.
They raise new questions about the Baby Tanner case and, more generally, about the Prince Albert Police Service and its management. It was echoed in previous calls that the changes should start from the top, starting with the removal of Chief Jon Bergen.
“This woman was treated differently because she was from the First Nations. They didn’t believe her,” Cameron said in early March. “We demand change, and we demand it today.”
Bergen turned down an interview request for this story. But speaking to the media earlier this year after Tanner’s death, Bergen said he values his relationship with the indigenous community and all residents.
“The message is being received loud and clear, and we are recognizing that we have a lot of work to do to regain trust and confidence in the community,” Bergen said. “We are committed to doing so.”
The Deputy Director of the Prince Albert Police Service, Farica Prince, made herself available for an interview instead of Bergen. Prince said he is unaware of anything that could call into question Bergen’s ability to be a boss.
“I have not witnessed, experienced or received any concerns that would adversely affect my confidence in Chief of Police Jonathan Bergen to lead our organization,” he said.
Prince declined to comment on any elements of the Baby Tanner case or specific criticisms of Bergen, citing the ongoing investigation by the Saskatchewan Public Complaints Commission (CCP).
She also said she is concerned that agents are sharing information with the media.
“I hope everyone understands that interfering with an investigation is not only against the law, but it’s potentially criminal,” Prince said.
He said now is the time for the police to work together as a team to focus on the safety and well-being of the community.
The mother begged the officers
In an interview in March, Frenchman said she and Tanner lived as prisoners at their 23rd Street home. doctor.
“He said if I left, the baby and I would be gone, dead,” he said. “He forced me to stay. I had to put up with it.”
But Frenchman said on the night of Feb. 9, with Tanner just over a year old, he told Brass he wanted to leave.
“I decided to pack my things. I put on my jacket and hat,” he said.
He said he evicted her from the building and “told me he was leaving the property and was going to die.”
Kyla Frenchman says she repeatedly told Prince Albert police that her baby was in danger in the hours leading up to the death of 13-month-old Tanner Brass. The boy’s father has been charged with second-degree murder. (Jason Warick / CBC)
The Frenchman walked the streets in the cold and darkness, knocking on doors until someone let her use the phone to call the police.
He said two officers arrived and told them the baby inside was in danger.
Frenchman, a member of the Thunderchild First Nation, said officers accused her of being drunk, handcuffed her and took her to police cells without entering the suite to check on Tanner’s whereabouts.
Frenchman said that once in the detention cells, he begged officers and staff to monitor his baby.
She was released hours later and came home to see the police tape all over the yard. Police told him Tanner was dead. He collapsed, crying.
‘Why didn’t the cops come earlier?’: Bird
An official involved in the case and two other people told CBC News that it was not Frenchman’s repeated requests that brought the police to the basement room later that day: it was Brass himself who called them.
Brass’s mother, Rubin Charles, said Brass called her just minutes before police arrived. Charles initially thought that his son wished him a happy birthday, but his mood quickly changed.
“He said, ‘The cops are coming and I have to deal with what I did,'” Charles said in an interview.
Following his son’s call, Charles immediately called Jody Ehlert, the house’s property manager.
“[Brass] he called her and told her he had done something, “Ehlert said.” He told her he called the police and they were on their way. She was very worried. It felt like there might be something wrong with the baby. “
Ehlert drove to the house and said “it was not at all shocking” to see the police, but that he had never imagined how serious the situation was.
The home of Prince Albert, Sask., Where police found 13-month-old Tanner dead and arrested his father, Kaij Brass. (Jason Warick / CBC)
During the two or so years since Brass and Frenchman moved there, Ehlert filed more than half a dozen complaints about Brass from neighbors or those living in the other suites in the house.
“I felt like she was very controlling. I almost never saw Kyla. She almost always answered the door. She was very quiet, she never made eye contact,” Ehlert said. “He was always right in his own mind.”
Neighbors said Brass often insulted them or turned to them and hid while lifting weights in the yard. Among those neighbors is Chris “Jimmy” Bird, who lives next door to the multi-unit rental house.
Bird had been released from police cells on the morning of February 10. He said he returned home in time to see Brass, who was only wearing pajama pants, being handcuffed by police in the yard. An agent confirmed the physical description and clothing described by Bird.
“He looked straight at me and spat,” Bird said.
Bird continued to watch as more police cars, an ambulance and other emergency services vehicles lined the street.
When Frenchman later arrived at the scene, but before the police told him the news, he saw Bird in the yard. Bird said the Frenchman asked her what was going on and where her baby was.
Bird said that was when he realized it was the voice of a Frenchman he had heard in the cells. Bird had just seen emergency services workers leave the house with a stretcher, but told the Frenchman to go and ask the police.
“Why didn’t the cops come earlier? Why did they leave the baby in there? They made a mistake in arresting that lady. [Frenchman] instead, “Bird said.
A few days later, with the crime scene cleared, Ehlert opened the suite for FSIN officials. They cleaned it and brought an elder to perform a ceremony for the spirit of Tanner. The FSIN has been helping the Frenchman, who now lives in Saskatoon.
Charles, Brass’s mother, said he often left money, diapers or food for Tanner. He said there was no indication that the Frenchman was unhappy.
Tanner Brass’s grandmother, Rubin Charles, wore this necklace with her fingerprint after the death of the 13-month-old boy earlier this year. Tanner’s father, Kaij Brass, has been charged with second-degree murder. (Submitted by Rubin Charles)
Recently, Charles made a pendant with Tanner’s fingerprint on one side and his name on the other. He said things could have been better for everyone if Prince Albert’s police had entered the suite when the Frenchman was begging them.
“I’ve been struggling to cope with the loss of my grandson and losing my son to the system,” Charles said. “I miss them so much.”
Brass’s lawyer, Rebecca Crookshanks, said she had no comment on the case at this time, as she was still in court.
Critics are calling for the police chief to be fired
In early March, the FSIN, the Grand Council of Prince Albert and others demanded the immediate dismissal of Bergen and any officer who ignored the Frenchman’s requests.
“This mother was detained against her will and her baby paid the maximum price for her negligence,” said Thunderchild First Nation chief James Snakeskin. “Baby Tanner didn’t even get a chance to grow up and live a beautiful life. The death of this baby affected not only Thunderchild, but many other First Nations. That’s clear racism.”
Bergen initially said he would wait for the results of the Public Complaints Commission’s investigation before taking any action. But shortly afterwards he suspended the two junior agents who first arrested the Frenchman, saying he had seen the CCP’s preliminary findings.
One day after that, …