The father of a B.C. boy who fatally overdosed after being given drugs, while other youth looked, filmed and laughed, said Wednesday he is going to attend every court date for the accused in his son’s death.
Carson Crimeni, 14, died on Aug. 7, 2019, near a Langley, B.C., skate park.
A 20-year-old man, who cannot be named because he was a youth at the time of the incident, has been charged with manslaughter.
He made his first court appearance on Wednesday. The next court date has been set for Nov. 24.
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A publication ban prevents any reporting of what was discussed in the courtroom.
“No matter the day, I’m going to be here,” Aron Crimeni told Global News Wednesday.
“We’re 100 per cent ready and as long as it takes. It’s about getting justice and protecting children in the future.”
Video from Carson’s final hours, later posted to social media, shows the boy in steadily deteriorating condition, sweating heavily and becoming increasingly agitated.
It was only hours later that he was found barely breathing in a ditch not far from the Walnut Grove skate park.
The 20-year-old charged in Carson’s death turned himself in to police in mid-September after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Crimeni said that while this case won’t bring his son back, at the end of it, they “hope to get justice for Carson and to keep kids safe in the future.”
—with files from Rumina Daya and Simon Little