No charges in 9-year-old's death at Hamilton workplace
The Ministry of Labour has decided not to lay any charges in death of a nine-year-old boy who was killed by a falling piece of steel grate at a Hamilton industrial site last December.
Ministry spokesperson William Lin said the decision came from prosecutors, but said a freedom of information request would have to be made to find out why charges were avoided.
- Schuyler Six's death from falling steel not a criminal case
- Boy's death at Hamilton industrial site probed by police
Schuyler Six, 9, was killed at Ralm Industrial Millwrights Inc., on Imperial St., near Sherman Avenue North and Burlington Street East, where it was believed he was with his father when a piece of steel fell and struck his head.
At the time, Hamilton Police quickly turned the case over to the Ministry of Labour, deeming the incident not "criminal in nature." The ministry had a year to file charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which could have carried a maximum penalty to a company of $500,000, or $25,000 and one year in prison for a person.
After the Dec. 15, 2013 incident, grievance counsellors were in Sir Wilfrid Laurier Public School for the Grade 3's classmates. The boy's sister, Maiya, was in kindergarten at the same school at the time.
Last year, Paul Penn, who lives in an apartment near the industrial complex, told CBC News he was outside his home on a Sunday at the time of the accident, at roughly 1:45 p.m.
He said he heard a “bang,” but initially “didn’t really think anything of it.”
When first responders arrived on scene, Penn said there was a woman "screaming and crying."
“I’ve never seen police … rush out of their cars as fast as they were doing, so I knew right away that there was something going on.”