A coroner's inquest began in Vancouver on Tuesday into the death of a man shocked by a police Taser at a Granville Street hotel more than two years ago.

Robert Bagnell, 44, died in June 2004, after police used a Taser to subdue him.

Robert Bagnell died in a Granville Street hotel after Vancouver police used a Taser to subdue him.
(CBC)

A report by Victoria police showed he died of cardiac arrest due to cocaine-induced psychosis.

But that explanation isn't accepted by Bagnell's sister Patti Gillman.

"I can't help but find it a little strange, so many cases that have been attributed to cocaine, when these are people who had undoubtedly taken it many times before."

Gillman says she hopes the coroner's inquest will reveal details of her brother's case that Vancouver police have been unwilling to release to the family.

"We still don't know how many times my brother was Tasered, for what duration and what mode was used."
 
Gillman and the rest of the Bagnell family have launched a civil suit against the Vancouver Police Department, the officers involved, as well as the maker and distributor of the Taser, with the hope of getting the device banned in British Columbia.