Alex Scantlebury was the high school quarterback and had high hopes of landing a scholarship, but in the summer of 2004, he tore up his right ankle and with it any chance of a sports career.
It hit him hard and he lost himself in drugs. He financed his habit by working in Ottawa’s drug trade right up until the day in September 2011 that police arrested him in a big raid dubbed Project Finale.
At 24, he was facing drug charges as a reputed enforcer for an Ottawa gang, a world away from the football field at Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
But the judge gave him a break and allowed him to serve his sentence on weekends, and Scantlebury seized what he calls his second chance. As he sat in jail, he kept thinking that he wanted to be a better man for his young daughter.
[…]
“As title sponsor of the #letsunlockchange campaign, it is not lost on us that organizations like the John Howard Society actually help reduce crime and reduce the need for defence lawyers. We are defence attorneys but members of this community first, and we are happy to do our part to make the community a safer place.”
Read Gary Dimmock’s full article: Ottawa Citizen
