Okanagan family sues, seeking answers in son’s police-involved death

It's been more than three years since an Okanagan man died after police tried to arrest him. But Clayton Donnelly's parents say they still don't know the details of what happened.

It’s been more than three years since an Okanagan man died after police tried to arrest him.

But Clayton Donnelly’s parents say they still don’t know the details of what happened.

“We want details of what exactly happened on that night and why did a traffic stop turn into a murder or turn into a death? Why?” said Kathy Donnelly, Clayton’s mother.

Desperate to learn what happened to their son and force institutions to change, the parents have filed a lawsuit over Clayton’s death.

“We just want want to know some answers,” Kathy Donnelly said.

“We don’t want another family to go through this same situation.”

What B.C.’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), has said publicly is that in the middle of the night on a Monday in October 2019 Clayton was reported driving erratically in the Lake Country area and that after two unsuccessful traffic stops the vehicle was stopped in Malakwa and police tried to arrest Clayton.

“When we went the next day it was sort of quite clear he was brain dead,” Kathy Donnelly said, noting the family then had to decide whether to take the 38-year-old man off life support.