Ben Teague Photo credit: CTV

Back in September, 2019 teen hockey player Ben Teague joined 13 teammates, of the Oakville Rangers Midget Double-A hockey club at a local YMCA center. The weekend was to be a team-building exercise, but would later end in Teague’s unfortunate passing.

image

The police have a duty to serve their citizens and it appears the police force in York, Ontario have been found negligent in their lack of investigation into Teague’s death.

In 2022, Teague’s parents would pursue league action and launch a lawsuit against the YMCA, the Ontario Minor Hockey League, The Rangers and Team Coaches.

The suit is still awaiting a trial date, while the parents continue to fight for justice. They have filed a complaint with the Office of Independent Police Review with the claim, that they failed to properly investigate the death. The review of the OIPRD was completed in 2023, but details are just now being made public.

Teague, 17 years old was found to be drinking with his teammates, ranged from 16-17, and would suffer excruciating leg pain in the morning. He would admit to his coaches he had consumed alcohol the night before.

“…a call was placed to 911 and Ben was taken by ambulance to Brampton Civic Hospital where he was pronounced dead on Sept. 14, 2019, at 7:07 a.m.

…the cause of Ben’s death was determined as acute myocardial injury with necrosis associated with recent alcohol consumption.”

The coaches who were involved argued that the Oakville Rangers and the league have a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol, of which Teague was aware.

The coaches also argued that the coaches had:

“provided reasonable and appropriate supervision to the players, taking into consideration the age and experience of the players.”

For the four officers who were found negligent in the investigation of Teague’s death, Heathen Bentham, Kenneth Golding, Det. John Loughry, and Sgt. Robert Worthman appears to have escaped discipline. Or if they were disciplined it hadn’t been made public, according to Rick Westhead of TSN/CTV. Hockey Canada is currently conducting a third party independent investigation into the incident and the coaches involved.