ARTHUR – He was a hard-working and loving father with a big laugh and a zest for life.
That’s how Faye Dzikewich describes her 36-year-old son Nathaniel Schofield, who died unexpectedly on July 10.
“He was full of life,” she said, and “lived for his children.
“That was just all taken away from him way too soon.”
Schofield was arrested at his Arthur home following a domestic dispute on July 9, his mother said.
He was held briefly at the OPP station in Teviotdale, and transferred to the Rockwood station the same night.
By 11:20am the next day, Schofield was dead at Guelph General Hospital.
The circumstances around his death are unclear, leaving loved ones considering a magnitude of possibilities.
“I’m completely in the dark,” his mother said. “I’ve had every scenario I could imagine go through my head.”
According to a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) press release, “In the morning of July 10, the man was observed to be in medical distress.
“First aid was administered, and Emergency Medical Services transported the man to a hospital in Guelph.”
Dzikewich said Schofield appeared to be in good health before the arrest – other than taking antibiotics months before for an eczema-related infection.
‘Family man’
“He was a family man,” Dzikewich said, with “six beautiful children:” 15-year-old Hayden; 14-year-old Cohen; 10-year-old Avah and Lydia; eight-year-old Aleks and two-year-old Keaton.
“They’re trying really hard to lean on each other,” Dzikewich said of how her grandchildren were coping in the days after their father’s death.
“I guess that’s all they can do, right?”
Nathaniel Schofield with his daughter Avah. Submitted photo
She said Hayden and Cohen are working hard to support their younger siblings, “keeping everybody strong.”
And they know their grandmother is “going to bat for them, trying to do everything I possibly can” to find answers, she told the Advertiser.
Dzikewich hired a lawyer who specializes in deaths that occur in police custody, “in hopes of getting the answers I need and deserve.”
On the night of Schofield’s arrest, Dzikewich said only one charge was laid, and no one was hurt in the domestic incident, which “wasn’t anything serious.”
The police offered Schofield’s girlfriend, Angelique Hunter, assistance, Dzikewich said, but she turned it down because “she was fine.
From left, Nathaniel Schofield, his mother Faye Dziekwich, and his girlfriend Angelique Hunter. Submitted photo
“Now, she’s blaming herself,” and is overwhelmed with anguish, she said.
Dzikewich has a close relationship with Hunter, and said “she’s hard to understand right now because she’s so emotional.”
OPP custody
“I don’t understand what the need was to bring him into custody, but they did,” Dzikewich said.
She called the OPP “right away” on Tuesday night, as soon as she heard Schofield was arrested.
“The officer let me know that Nathaniel was already being transported from [Teviotdale] to Rockwood OPP,” she said.
The Teviotdale officer then contacted the officers enroute, and Dzikewich was told her son “was calm” and he consented for them to give her updates.
Dzikewich said Schofield has no history of violence and “was a very laid back, chill, level guy.
Nathaniel Schofield’s mom said he had a great sense of humour and “his laughter sounded amazing.” Submitted photo
“He was a very patient, calm person.
“Once he got to Rockwood that night, I had called Rockwood OPP to relay a message to Nathaniel to let him know I would come to Rockwood to pick him up” as soon as he was released, which she felt sure would follow his court appearance the next day.
Dzikewich spent most of July 10 sitting in a Guelph courtroom, where her son’s name was on the docket.
Shortly before 4pm, a message from Rockwood OPP sounded throughout the courtroom, Dzikewich said, informing the court that Schofield would not make an appearance, “because he had ‘just been rushed to Guelph General Hospital for a medical emergency.’
“I stood up in the courtroom and started asking ‘why?’” she said.
“The judge looked just as concerned as I was, relaying ‘the mother wants to know why,’” but Rockwood OPP said “‘we can’t give information.’”
‘No, no, no!’
Dzikewich, worried something terrible had happened, rushed out of the courtroom.
Then she got a call from the SIU, who said they were on their way, and that she needed to stay.
“I knew something was serious for them to be calling,” she said. “I was asking what happened, asking if my son was dead.”
She said the SIU wouldn’t tell her anything over the phone, repeating they were on their way and she needed to stay.
Then Hunter called, and told Dzikewich that Schofield was dead.
Nathaniel Schofield with his girlfriend Angelique Hunter. Submitted photo
Dzikewich said she immediately collapsed. “I was crying. I was screaming, hitting the pavement. ‘No, no, no!’”
Someone had noticed her distress in the courtroom moments earlier and followed her outside.
“He came and picked me up, helped me sit down on my car seat, and hugged me,” Dzikewich said.
“He told me his name was Dean, and said he was going downtown to get help from a minister.”
The stranger left to get Dzikewich help, and the SIU arrived at the courthouse, as well as Dzikewich’s niece and her youngest son, Logan Gaines.
Nathaniel Schofield, left, with his brother Logan Gaines. Submitted photo
Gaines turned 25 on July 13 – three days after his brother’s death.
“He’s feeling the same way as I am,” Dzikewich said, wondering “What happened? Why did this happen? Why were things handled the way they were?”
Autopsy
After an interview with SIU investigators, Dzikewich spoke with an SIU support worker on the phone, who asked if she wanted to go to the hospital to see her son’s body.
Dzikewich agreed – she wanted “to check to see if there was any police brutality” or signs of sickness.
But the investigators said no.
“‘Nathaniel has already been transported to the coroner in Toronto,’” she was told, where an autopsy was scheduled for July 12.
However, Dzikewich said she later spoke with the coroner, who told her Schofield’s body was at Guelph General Hospital until after 5pm.
“‘[The coroner] was there and said the nurses were waiting for me,” Dzikewich told the Advertiser.
The autopsy was rescheduled for July 13, but Dzikewich said the SIU wouldn’t tell her why. She has requested a second autopsy be completed at her expense.
Nathaniel Schofield as a child with his mom, Faye Dzikevich. Submitted photo
The SIU also didn’t give a clear reason for taking almost five hours to notify her of her son’s death.
Dzikewich asked the SIU support worker, “‘What was going on all day? Were you cleaning up their mess – the police’s mess?’”
She was told they didn’t have contact information for next of kin, which doesn’t make sense to her, as she had spoken with OPP officers the night before and multiple times that day, including one call around 1pm – almost two hours after Schofield’s death. “They had my information,” she said.
‘Shock and disbelief’
Dzikewich said Schofield loved fishing, skateboarding, and other outdoor sports and had a great sense of humour.
“His laughter sounded amazing,” she told the Advertiser, and provided a video of Schofield laughing while teaching his son Hayden skateboarding tricks.
Schofield worked as a roofer for most of his life, putting in long hours and forming strong friendships with his crew, Dzikewich said.
“He was very well loved,” she said. “Our whole family is very broken. A lot of his friends are broken. It’s very painful.
Baby Nathaniel Schofield with, from left, his grandmother Rita Chambers, mother Faye Dzikevich, father Raymond Schofield, and aunt Cara Whynot. Submitted photo
“Nobody ever thought in a million years that this would happen to Nathaniel. No one saw it coming.
“Everyone is in shock and disbelief.”
Dzikewich is making arrangements for her son to be laid to rest in Arthur.
To support the cost of legal support and Schofield’s funeral, donations can be made to gofundme.com/f/in-need-of-help-to-pay-for-funeral-lawyer-expenses.
