Officer should not be alone with suspect, inquest jury tells RCMP

Last Updated: Friday, July 6, 2007 | 7:52 PM PT

CBC News

A coroner's inquest in B.C. concluded Friday that the RCMP should change its policy so that no officer is left alone with a suspect until that person has been placed in a cell.

The recommendation is one of a number handed down by the five-person inquest jury in Houston, B.C., after five hours of deliberation.

Ian Bush was in police custody when he was shot in the back of the head.
(Canadian Press)

The inquest has been probing the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of 22-year-old Ian Bush since May 22.

Bush, 22, was in police custody when he was shot in the back of the head by Const. Paul Koester on Oct. 29, 2005. The two were alone in the RCMP detachment in Houston at the time, and Koester has maintained he shot Bush in self-defence.

Bush, a mill worker, had been arrested for having an open beer outside a hockey arena, and for giving a false name to police.

On Friday, the jury also recommended the use of audio-video recording equipment be made mandatory in interview rooms. There was no equipment in place the night Bush was shot.

As well, the jury said there should be a review process and a continuing education program for officers.

The coroner's inquest cannot lay blame against a person or agency, but can only make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.

Before the jurors retired to deliberate Friday, coroner Shane DeMeyer, who presided over the inquest, told them their recommendations had to be "reasonable and practical."

Mother hoped for more

Bush's mother, Linda Bush, said she felt "a bit deflated" after hearing the recommendations.

"The others are good recommendations, but the ones that are missing are what we were really hoping for," she told reporters after the findings were released.

She said she had hoped the inquest would call for better training of officers and conclude that the RCMP shouldn't investigate themselves.

An internal RCMP investigation was conducted into the Bush shooting and concluded in September 2006 that Koester fired in justifiable self-defence during a violent struggle. The officer was not charged.

The Bush family said it will push ahead with its civil lawsuit against the RCMP, the B.C. solicitor general and the B.C. attorney general.

Family members say they want a public inquiry to probe the case, and are asking Paul Kennedy, the chair of Canada's Commission of Public Complaints Against the RCMP, to call for the inquiry.

"I think the public inquiry is the next step in the process to see to it things are done in a more positive direction," Bush's father, Dawson Bush, told reporters.

The public complaints commission is already reviewing the case.

RCMP will study recommendations

The RCMP has agreed to consider the jury's recommendations.

"These are recommendations that were certainly expected," Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre told reporters in Houston.

"The people in charge of operational policing here in British Columbia will study them and see how they can be implemented."

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said he hopes the RCMP will follow up on the recommendations.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, the federal cabinet minister who oversees the RCMP, did not comment Friday.