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A Londoner charged in a Canada Day accident that injured three people near Woodstock is fighting for his life after being found unresponsive in his jail cell over the weekend.
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Publication date:
07/05/2021 • 13 hours ago • 3 minutes read • 31 comments 
Brandon Marchant, from London, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Center over the weekend, a family member says. He was arrested and charged after an accident on July 1st on Highway 401.
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A Londoner charged in a Canada Day accident that injured three people near Woodstock is fighting for his life after being found unresponsive in his jail cell over the weekend.
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Desperate family and friends of Brandon Marchant, 32, wonder how he got close to death from a safe and healthy hospital in a medical segregation cell at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center (EMDC).
“That is absolutely wrong. I have a lot of questions, ”said a relative who wanted to remain anonymous. “Why should they get him out of the hospital and put him in medical segregation? There is no reason for that.”
Marchant had his fights, but that shouldn’t have led to it, said the relative.
“He’s a great child, wears his heart on his sleeve, is always joking, and full of life,” said the relative. “He put his heart into everything he did, and when he did, he excelled.”
Ontario’s Police Station, the Special Investigations Unit, is investigating Thursday’s accident on Highway 401 southwest of Woodstock that involved a vehicle leaving the road and crashing into a power pole.
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Two inmates were thrown from the vehicle, one of whom was seriously injured and flown to hospital. The driver fled the scene, but was arrested a short time later and treated in hospital for injuries, police said.
Marchant has been charged with several criminal offenses, including possession of more than $ 5,000 worth of property acquired through crime, dangerous driving, driving while in lockdown, and violating his probation.
His relative believes Marchant was rushed from the hospital to EMDC late Friday and found unresponsive on Saturday morning.
Correctional officers at EMDC found Marchant unresponsive in his cell on Saturday, sources said. EMDC does not have an infirmary. Inmates undergoing medical treatment are placed in a segregation cell, where they should be monitored more often than in a regular cell.
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Marchant remained in critical condition on Monday, a London Health Sciences Center spokesman said.
“The ministry can confirm that an inmate at EMDC was found in distress and hospitalized on July 3, 2021 (Saturday). It would be inappropriate to provide further information as it would undermine the inmate’s right to health privacy, “Brent Ross, Attorney General’s Department spokesman, said in an email.
Marchant is known in the London mixed martial arts scene where he is known as Bam Bam.
“He was a great fighter. He would have been great if he had stuck with it, ”said London MMA coach Jeff Fuchs. “I wish he had stayed with the fighting.”
Marchant always supported the gym’s charity work, including efforts to raise groceries for the Rotholme Women and Family Shelter every month in 2016, Fuchs said.
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“He was always part of it. He was with me every month and stood outside in the freezing cold, ”said Fuchs. Marchant can be seen in a photo published in The London Free Press with Fuchs and other fighters at one of the donation drop-offs.
Team Fuchs members Colleen Mayson (left), Scott Lamont, Jeff Fuchs and Brandon Marchant pose with some of the items they bought for the Rotholme Women’s and Family on Sunday May 22, 2016, outside Dollarama on Wellington Road, London Shelter have collected. (Free) Photo of the press kit)
Marchant stopped exercising about a year ago to deal with his personal problems, Fuchs said.
“When he’s with the wrong people, he’s just made bad decisions.”
Marchant came from a rough background and had little family support in his early years, but found a home in London and worked hard on construction and as an MMA fighter, the relative said.
He has struggled with his addiction in recent years and went to church in the fall to put his life in order, the relative said.
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“He tried everything to improve the situation. He was trying to get better. “
Court records show Marchant faces other charges – most of them of traffic offenses, stolen property, and parole violations – unrelated to last week’s accident.
An Oxford OPP spokesman referred all inquiries regarding the Canada Day crash to the SIU, citing the policy of not commenting on the cases investigated by the agency, which investigates all cases of serious injury, sexual assault allegations and shootings involving police .
A SIU spokesman said a stolen vehicle drove into the ramp of a service center when it hit a power pole, splitting the vehicle in half.
The video from the scene of the accident shows an ambulance taking off near the ONroute petrol station while rescue workers block all lanes on one side of the motorway.
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