No matter how strongly we disagreed on matters of politics or personal philosophies, one thing I know for sure is that Katie loves her children unreservedly, with a power and passion I've rarely seen. I knew that Henry's injuries and the aftermath were weighing on her terribly, and the situation was made even rougher because she was pregnant at the time. I wondered how a parent could stand having their child hurting so seriously and still go on caring for the rest of the children. I prayed for Henry's recovery, and for Katie's peace and strength.
In one of life's ironies, I was soon to find out exactly how tough the road she was walking was as my son Luke was in a car accident that put him into the same ICU where Henry was being treated. In fact, Luke went into the ICU on the very day that Henry died. Katie and I crossed paths in one of the waiting areas as she was leaving after Henry passed. I gave her my sympathy and a big hug (I doubt she even remembers it; her grief was so raw.) and she went home while I settled in for what turned out to be a very long wait.
I was lucky; we nearly lost Luke to a combination of the brain injury from the wreck, and lung damage from a reaction to the ventilator, but he survived, and just yesterday his doctor gave him a clean bill of health. He has some very subtle deficits in attention and concentration, but for the most part, he's completely back to normal. I thought about Katie often while I stood watch over Luke, and I still feel a connection to her as she continues to fight for Henry.
Katie is having to pursue justice for Henry on her own as for some reason, the Knox County Sheriff's Office(KCSO) hasn't shown much interest in pursuing the folks who attacked and beat Henry, or the folks who gave him the overdose, kept him in their home, and refused to get help as they saw he was in distress.
According to the detective assigned to the case, there was no crime.
Beatings, robbery, drug trafficking, but no real crime.
The following links go to Katie's story. After nearly a year of silence, as she waited for Knoxville's law enforcement to do their job, she's decided that it is time for her to tell what she knows. Every post is backed with medical reports, phone records, and other records, or is corroborated by witnesses. The story as told paints the picture of the tragic last days of a young man trapped in drug addiction, as well as an unflattering portrait of Knox County law enforcement. I would have a hard time believing how poorly this case was handled if I hadn't heard my wife's story of how her brother's murder was handled. In that case, many of the same attitudes came through. Indifference to the death of what the police thought was just another drug user, incompetence at nearly every level, apathy from the DA's office; it all sounds familiar.
I'm linking to Katie's piece for two reasons. First, she asked me to, and if there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it. Second, reading her story makes me angry. I picture Luke and Henry with their positions reversed, and if it were my son in those circumstances, my son who had been beaten, robbed, abused, and potentially much worse, I'd be fighting just as hard as she is.
But I probably wouldn't be as polite and patient as she has been.
- It’s Time to Go Fully Public With What Happened to My Son, Henry Granju
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 1
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 2
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 3
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 4
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 5
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 6
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 7
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 8
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – A NOTE
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 9
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 10
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 11
- JUSTICE FOR HENRY – PART 12