HOUSTON, B.C. - The lawyer for the family of a young man shot in the back of the head while in RCMP custody says he hopes a B.C. coroner's jury will recommend that police never investigate their own in such situations.
"The focus of this inquest is to get a recommendation from the jury that in custody deaths should not be investigated by the police force involved in the death,'' said Howard Rubin, who will attend the coroner's inquest that begins Tuesday.
"In other words, the RCMP should not investigate itself.''
Ian Geoffrey Bush was shot during a scuffle with a rookie officer, Const. Paul Koester, at the RCMP detachment in Houston, in northern British Columbia, in October 2005.
The 22-year-old was taken into custody after giving police a false name when he was questioned about having an open beer outside a hockey game.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association filed a complaint within days, a standard procedure for the group for the last few years for every case involving a death in custody or death during an RCMP pursuit.
"There (appeared) to be an inordinate number of deaths in custody over the course of which the police didn't seem to be held accountable,'' Jason Gratl, the association's board chair, said in an interview.
The association says its complaint has been thwarted by the RCMP, and the group is currently seeking a judicial review.
Members of the police department New Westminster, B.C., conducted an investigation of the Bush shooting and concluded no charges should be laid against Koester, who had less than one year's experience as an officer.
After the investigation and nearly a year after the Bush shooting, the chair of the RCMP Complaints Commission, Paul Kennedy, filed his own complaint.
Kennedy questioned whether, on the day of Bush's shooting, Koester and fellow officers "complied with all appropriate policies, procedures, guidelines and statutory requirements for the arrest and treatment of persons taken into and released from custody, and whether such policies, procedures and guidelines are adequate.''
Kennedy also questioned whether the investigation was carried out "in an adequate and timely fashion.''
The conclusion that no charges should be laid turned up the volume of public outrage over the case, prompting B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal to reveal some of the details about that night.
Oppal said the rookie officer acted in self-defence.
He said Koester was alone in the detachment office with Bush and was nearly choked unconscious. Koester managed to draw his pistol and shoot Bush in the back of the head, Oppal said.
Bush later died of his injury.
In mid-March, the Office of B.C.'s Chief Coroner scheduled this week's inquest.
It will be held by regional coroner Shane DeMeyer. It is scheduled to run for four days, then reconvene for another four days beginning July 3.
The Bush family has launched a civil suit against Koester, also naming Attorney General Oppal and the Solicitor General of B.C.
Oppal declined to be interviewed before the start of the inquest.
