‘I’m a little numb:’ Killer of B.C. gas station attendant Grant De Patie dies
BLIND BAY, B.C. — The mother of a British Columbia gas station attendant dragged to death under a vehicle more than a decade ago, says she is “numb” to learn her son’s killer has died.
Corinne De Patie says she has received a copy of the death certificate for Darnell Pratt, the man who was just 16 when he tried to drive away from a suburban Vancouver gas station without paying in 2005.
Pratt hit 24-year-old Grant De Patie, who was working alone and tired to stop the theft but was dragged for several kilometres under Pratt’s stolen car.
Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison, but that was reduced to seven years on appeal and he was paroled in 2010.