Jasen Drnasin, the first Croatian cadet from the prestigious US military academy at West Point, was involved in an incident on a bus in Toronto when Canadian police sprayed him with tear gas for causing a public disturbance.
As a result of the use of tear gas, Drnasin went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated, but over the last ten days he has been on a life-support machine in a hospital, practically with no hope of recovery.
Drnasin went to West Point in 1996 at the invitation of the then US ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, and after four years returned with the rank of first lieutenant. He served as a training officer at the Command Training Centre of the Croatian Armed Forces General Staff.
In February 2001 he stabbed his fiancee with a pocket knife and was sentenced in 2002 to six months' probation. Prosecutors filed an appeal and the Supreme Court returned the case to the Split County Court, and according to Jutarnji List daily, no hearing has been held to date. Meanwhile, his fiancee forgave him and married him.
Croatian Internet portal Index.hr quoted Canadian media as saying that Drnasin caused the incident because he was apparently suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.