Paralyzed detective ‘sharp as ever’
Canada’s only quadriplegic police officer, Bryce Clarke battled back to homicide unit
Bryce Clarke wears a silver ring on his right middle finger, featuring two Grim Reapers, a crest, and Latin script that says: “We speak for the silenced.”
The acting detective for the Edmonton police department historical homicide department is currently working two cases. He’s also a quadriplegic.
Clarke is a testament to the possible. One summer night a decade ago, he was pulled from his Sherwood Park swimming pool. He wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. He has since emerged from his own tragedy to become a voice for others.
As the only quadriplegic police officer in Canada, Clarke has been selected to be the third-last medal bearer when the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Cross-country Relay — a nine-month recreation of Hansen’s journey across Canada — arrives in Edmonton.
On Monday, Hansen’s entourage rolls from Beaumont to the Alberta legislature, before heading down Whyte Avenue in the lead-up to an afternoon ceremony at the Univer- sity of Alberta. Clarke will join the relay in the final leg, carrying a 400gram sterling silver medal crafted for the relay by the Royal Canadian Mint. He’ll carry the medal alongside Hansen into the Van Vliet Centre gymnasium.
The relay will raise money to support research into spinal cord injuries. For Clarke, it will also be a chance to meet and talk to Hansen, “the guy everybody looks toward” when facing a serious spinal injury.
At the time of his accident, Clarke was a constable patrolling south Edmonton streets, seconded to Whyte Avenue in the weeks after the 2001 Canada Day riot. At the end of a hectic summer, he invited nine or 10 co-workers over to his acreage, where they soaked in his hot tub and drank a few beers. Clarke climbed on his deck railing and dove into his pool, something he had done many times before.
This time, he heard a loud crack. He couldn’t move. Before he passed out underwater, he heard colleagues joking around, telling him to get out of the water. They thought he was kidding around.
Clarke was flown to hospital by STARS air ambulance, and later told he would only be able to move his head a few inches each way.
“I was told I’d never work again, I would not have much of a life at all,” Clarke said. “There were no quadriplegic police officers in Canada, North America, or anywhere, that were able to work.”
Instead, Clarke found himself a recipient of unfailing support from his colleagues. His union, the Edmonton Police Association, bought him a van outfitted with a hydraulic lift. Co-workers chipped in overtime, vacation, and pay to help him reach a higher pay scale. And Clarke began to realize he had something to come back to. After three years of rehabilitation, he returned to work part time, eventually joining the gang unit. Two years ago, Clarke got the chance to follow in his father’s footsteps as a homicide detective. It’s the reason he became a police officer.
Insp. Stewart Callioux helped train Clarke, shortly after his recruit training began in February 1998. Clarke’s mobility may have been affected by his injury, but Callioux said Clarke is as sharp as ever, maybe even sharper.
“He’s an inspiration to all of us,” Callioux said. “When we had the opportunity to take Bryce in homicide section, we didn’t hesitate.”
Three days a week, Bryce has been digging into cold cases. He works partly from home, but Clarke’s downtown desk is full of documents and photos from the quartercentury-old Melodie Riegel case he is intent on cracking.
“By being able to come back to work, it’s just proven that fact: no matter what people’s disability is, they can still function in everyday society as a high level, Clarke said”