The man responsible for the death of a 24-year-old gas station attendant in 2005 has now died.
On the night in question, Darnell Pratt stopped at a suburban Vancouver gas station and put $12.30 of gas in a stolen car.
When Pratt, who was 16-years-old at the time, attempted to flee the station without paying, the lone employee working at the time, Grant De Patie, tried to stop him.
De Patie ended up underneath Pratt’s stolen car where he was dragged for several kilometres and did not survive the ordeal.
Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison, but it was reduced to seven years on appeal and he was paroled in 2010.
He was unable to stay out of jail, however, returning on multiple occasions for a series of different offences.
Now, De Patie’s family has learned that Pratt died recently at the age of 30, although his cause of death hasn’t been revealed.
"I think I’m a little numb. Just kind of absorbing it all in, and looking at the death certificate and realizing that it’s the actual, issued government document, that it’s true,” said the victim’s mother, Corinne De Patie.
“It puts an end to it. This is the final chapter. It has to end.”
Corinne says her son’s memory will live on because the BC Federation of Labour has plans to dedicate a plaque to him.
His death was also responsible for a major law change in B.C., which implemented a pay-before-you-pump policy at gas stations across the province.
The new law, which came into effect in 2008, was aptly named ‘Grant’s Law’.
