The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

JOANN McKenzie will find out today how her son, Tyronne 'TJ' Saunders, died while in police custody last Friday.

Police said Saunders was found unresponsive in his cell on Friday, June 8. Coroner Linda Virgill visited CDU and saw the body before it was taken to hospital.

After a two hour meeting, with Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, Ms McKenzie said she is more comfortable and "at ease" with the way the investigation is being handled.

"The commissioner gave me his condolences and assured me that he is personally involved in investigating my son's matter."

He said no autopsy has been performed yet, but the autopsy will be done on Friday and I should know by then what happened to TJ," she said. "I feel a little better. He sounds like a very honest and upfront man. He told me I can depend on him to get to the bottom of the situation and if someone caused TJ's death he will see personally that justice is served."

Ms McKenzie said it gets harder everyday dealing with the loss of her only son, but she said she is glad she will finally be able to get some closure.

"If someone did something wrong God will bring him out. I just want to get the death certificate so I can bury TJ and bring him some peace. I am looking forward to the closure. If the autopsy says nothing wrong was done I will accept that, but if someone did something TJ will get his justice," she said.

"This has really taken a toll on me and my family. We are just in wait-and-see mode. I am just moving, watching and going by faith and taking my time from day to day. I just pray everyday that someone will be honest and come forward with any information if they have it."

On Wednesday, Mr Greenslade urged the public not to jump to any conclusions on the matter.

"This was an unfortunate death. However, I want to ensure the public that this Commissioner is all about good governance and doing things the right way. I have ensured that everything has been done properly in that matter and I would like the public to please wait for Her Majesty's Coroner to issue a position in that matter. Please do not rush to judgment. This is a professional organization. I stand on credibility with the vast majority of our people with doing things correctly," he said.

"I want to be very clear. If Commissioner Greenslade had any reason to believe that something had happened that demanded my intervention from a criminal perspective, I can assure you I would move to make arrests and would move to charge whoever the perpetrators are, whether they are police officers or members of the public," he said.