How can you not feel compassion for Michael Bryant, the former attorney general whose life was changed forever three years ago when he was involved in the car accident that killed cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard?
Easy. Just read 28 Seconds, his repellent account of his life before, during and after the tragedy. It’s a shameless exercise in self-promotion designed to rehabilitate his reputation.
I’m not talking about the central 28 seconds of the story, those moments when Bryant and Sheppard had their fatal encounter, an account that doesn’t entirely satisfy.
It’s the rest of the book that’s so grossly self-serving. Don’t be fooled by the early chapters confessing his years addicted to alcohol. (He’d been sober for three years before the accident.) We’re supposed to get the impression that Bryant can relate to Sheppard – both were alcoholics, after all. Never mind that the booze-fuelled Bryant became a high-powered lawyer, entered politics, got a big-deal cabinet post and had his eye on the premiership, while Sheppard pedalled the streets as a bicycle courier.
All Bryant’s toasty warmth gets cast aside when, under the guise of discussing his legal case, he devotes great chunks of the book to demonizing Sheppard, racking up accounts from others who had been attacked by him and making the most of the cyclist’s battle with booze and drugs.
On the one hand, he argues that the criminal justice system let Sheppard down, that many missed opportunities for intervention might have set him on the right course. On the other, when Bryant describes his own dealings with police and the courts before the charges were dropped, the book reads like a tirade against Sheppard himself.
Go ahead – confess your addictions, tell us about your encounter with the justice system, explain all the changes you’re going through. But let Darcy Allan Sheppard rest in peace.
Were Bryant truly a golden boy devastated by tragedy and chastened by the experience, he would have slipped away from the spotlight, done some soul-searching and devoted himself to a life of community service.
Instead, he’s made his book and its release into public relations exercises. Remember, Bryant got himself a communications consultant (read publicist) before he hired his lawyers and before Sheppard’s body was cold.
At least he’s not in it for the money. Some proceeds from the book go to the Pine River Foundation for adolescent mental health. But none will go to Sheppard’s father. In fact, as of last week, since the accident, he hasn’t reached out to him – ever.
susanc@nowtoronto.com
