CFL and Riders mourn the loss of Jayden Dalke

[bomberjunkie]

I want to spend a moment to commemorate the other victim as well, 22 year old Bhishma Rajyaguru of Regina.



From Bhishma's friend, who started a GoFundMe that has since closed at $77K to bring his body back to India.

Bhishma came to Canada in April 2022 with big dreams and an even bigger heart. He was a deeply responsible son, an honest friend, and a truly talented, passionate musician who filled our lives with melody and joy. To know him was to know kindness, loyalty, and an infectious love for life. His future was incredibly bright, and his absence leaves a void that words simply cannot describe.

May Bhishma and his family, Jayden and his family, and others connected to these souls find peace from this tragedy.

[Horseman]

DALKE is too blame, alcohol and drugs in his vehicle and more than likely in his system, gases his vehicle up in Lumsden then takes off without paying drives on the wrong side of the road and gets into a collision killing an innocent young man. Sorry I have no sympathy for Dalke who made the decision to do this. I wonder if he left a note explaining his reason. I have seen the same thing numerous times during my 28 year career as a Police Officer and have had to pull lifeless bodies from wrecks and pick up body parts from the highway because someone (Dalke) made the decision to drive impaired. It will take a couple of weeks for the RCMP to get the toxicology results from the autopsy of Dalke but I would bet the farm he was impaired.

[The Zipp]

DALKE is too blame, alcohol and drugs in his vehicle and more than likely in his system, gases his vehicle up in Lumsden then takes off without paying drives on the wrong side of the road and gets into a collision killing an innocent young man. Sorry I have no sympathy for Dalke who made the decision to do this. I wonder if he left a note explaining his reason. I have seen the same thing numerous times during my 28 year career as a Police Officer and have had to pull lifeless bodies from wrecks and pick up body parts from the highway because someone (Dalke) made the decision to drive impaired. It will take a couple of weeks for the RCMP to get the toxicology results from the autopsy of Dalke but I would bet the farm he was impaired.

Thanks for your service to the community - that is a very difficult job, 28 years is amazing.

[Horseman]

The RCMP investigation will now focus on the timeline of what Dalke was doing before the collision. They will speak to people who he interacted with that day and evening, what his actions were (Alcohol consumption, drug use) and his state of mind from comments/conversations Dalke had. Was he depressed and or suicidal, something was going on in his life that was an instigating factor for his actions. But, sometimes even with the investigation, no answers are discovered.

[bomb squad]

DALKE is too blame, alcohol and drugs in his vehicle and more than likely in his system, gases his vehicle up in Lumsden then takes off without paying drives on the wrong side of the road and gets into a collision killing an innocent young man. Sorry I have no sympathy for Dalke who made the decision to do this. I wonder if he left a note explaining his reason. I have seen the same thing numerous times during my 28 year career as a Police Officer and have had to pull lifeless bodies from wrecks and pick up body parts from the highway because someone (Dalke) made the decision to drive impaired. It will take a couple of weeks for the RCMP to get the toxicology results from the autopsy of Dalke but I would bet the farm he was impaired.

I didn't think in this day and age you could get gas out of a gas pump without a card or paying inside first.

[theaardvark]

I didn't think in this day and age you could get gas out of a gas pump without a card or paying inside first.

Rural SSK...

This is going to be an difficult time for the CFL media people.  They rapidly came out in sympathy, and as more information comes out, hard there to be any sympathy for this situation.  In fact, it literally is the antithesis of the CFL / CFLPA stand on alcohol/drug policies, depending on how this plays out.

It is tragic any time a life is lost, and even more tragic when an innocent person pays the ultimate cost for someone else's bad decisions.

[Blueforlife]

It's a tough one.  I now think in hindsight the league would look better honoring the person killed by him.  If substance abuse was an issue that's a disease and it's sad.  I have had family and friends that have had those issues and sometimes people need help but what he did was so wrong and I am happy that someone else above brought light to the other victim and the go fund me.  Really sad day that get more complicated and a lot of mixed emotions.

I got sober (booze) almost 10 years ago.  I did it to show my family you could be sober.  It wasn't easy but I will never go back.

Support your loved ones when they are in trouble.  Help them get help.  Sadly in many cases we can't help those that don't want it.

Mental illness might also have played a part.  Most of us suffer from that in some form.  Get help if you need it.  I am her on PMs if people need to be pointed in the right direction.

[LXTSN]

Rural SSK...

This is going to be an difficult time for the CFL media people.  They rapidly came out in sympathy, and as more information comes out, hard there to be any sympathy for this situation.  In fact, it literally is the antithesis of the CFL / CFLPA stand on alcohol/drug policies, depending on how this plays out.

It is tragic any time a life is lost, and even more tragic when an innocent person pays the ultimate cost for someone else's bad decisions.

I think you can still feel bad for Dalke's family. They lost their son too. 
Obviously a tragic situation that seems to be 100% his fault. He took the life of an innocent victim by either drunk/high driving, or extremely reckless driving if he was sober. Murder regardless. Really horrible.
Just feel a little for Dalke's family as they had nothing to do with this but will receive a ton of hate online after just losing their son.

[Blueforlife]

I think you can still feel bad for Dalke's family. They lost their son too. 
Obviously a tragic situation that seems to be 100% his fault. He took the life of an innocent victim by either drunk/high driving, or extremely reckless driving if he was sober. Murder regardless. Really horrible.
Just feel a little for Dalke's family as they had nothing to do with this but will receive a ton of hate online after just losing their son.

You have to feel for everyone, family, friend, club, communities.  Love trumps hate.  Have to forgive.  Takes time.  The heart of this forum is on full display.  Stay awesome everyone.

[bomberjunkie]

It's a tough one.  I now think in hindsight the league would look better honoring the person killed by him.

It looks like the Riders have put out a statement on Facebook and the CFL PR followed suit by sharing the Riders' post.

The next step to go beyond being performative is to either educate or adjust their policies for the players, and/or advocacy in the area of mental health or substance use, depending on the discovery of circumstances.

[The Zipp]

from the riders:

We are profoundly saddened by the loss of 22-year-old Regina resident Bhishma Rajyaguru on Saturday.
 
In speaking with one of Bhishma's loved ones, he shared with us that he was a caring friend, a devoted son, a supportive brother, and someone who was always there for the people in his life. A gifted percussionist with a deep love of music, Bhishma's passion and presence left a lasting impression on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

Our hearts are with his family, friends, and all those mourning his loss. We also hold in our thoughts everyone who is supporting those affected during this incredibly difficult time.
 
We will honour Bhishma as part of our pregame ceremony on Thursday evening and are working with his family on the best way we can support them. We will share more information when it is available.

[ModAdmin]

Good to see the Rough rider organization took the high road here.  It is a tragedy for both family and friends and we need to be cautious and considerate in our comments here.  Thanks.

[Tecno]

The next step to go beyond being performative is to either educate or adjust their policies for the players, and/or advocacy in the area of mental health or substance use, depending on the discovery of circumstances.

Ya, this isn't the first time something like this could have happened in the CFL.  I can recall 2 DUIs from CFL players off the top of my head.  Probably more like 5 in the last 5-7 years.  And now weed factoring in, where so many stoners swear it makes their driving better.  It's really stupid.  Should have been predicted before Trudeau legalized and mainstreamed it.

Maybe the CFL needs a tighter DUI policy.  And players need to buddy up and make sure no one does anything stupid.  Make it a team culture thing.

How about a stricter 6 game suspension for any DUI offense, and the team gets fined $5k that comes off the SMS too.  Make it hurt the whole team and maybe they'll get the correct programs in place.

I would assume there's 25-30% of players who are like Milt "body is my temple", who don't drink/toke at all.  Promote that, and have them buddy up with the substance problem people.

[bomberjunkie]

The penalty makes sense.

Maybe the CFL needs a tighter DUI policy.  And players need to buddy up and make sure no one does anything stupid.  Make it a team culture thing.

How about a stricter 6 game suspension for any DUI offense, and the team gets fined $5k that comes off the SMS too.  Make it hurt the whole team and maybe they'll get the correct programs in place.

I would assume there's 25-30% of players who are like Milt "body is my temple", who don't drink/toke at all.  Promote that, and have them buddy up with the substance problem people.

- I'd be OK with the stricter DUI penalty. There's no place for it anywhere.

- The buddy system wouldn't have worked in this case, as it was a bye week and you can't be restricting player's movement during that time. But I like the idea of integrating more team culture to combat it.

- Athletes are incredible lightweights when it comes to recreational drugs. There should be some education in the fact they need much less to get affected compared to a grown *** man with a pot belly.

[TBURGESS]

Rules and penalties already exist and simply don't work. MADD has been fighting this fight for 50+ years. Everyone knows it's wrong to drink/drug and drive. It still happens every weekend.