Inquest testimony by an independent blood spatter expert will dispute the RCMP's version of the 2005 shooting of Ian Bush at the police detachment Houston, B.C., CBC News was told Wednesday.

Joe Slemko, who does work for the Edmonton Police Services and owns a private forensics consulting firm, will testify when the inquest resumes Tuesday, Bush family lawyer Howard Rubin said.

Ian Bush, 22, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in Houston in October 2005.
(CBC file)

Slemko did a pattern analysis of the blood spatter in RCMP photographs to try to determine the position of the 22-year-old mill worker and the officer who shot him, Rubin said.

In his report, which was sent to the family, Slemko said he didn't find any bloodstain evidence to support the testimony of Const. Paul Koester, who told the inquest last month he was attacked by Bush and choked from behind and had to shoot Bush to save his own life.

Koester said he started to lose consciousness and couldn't remember exactly where he and Bush were positioned when he fired his gun or how he got out from under Bush's body. Bush had been shot in the back of the head.

The inquest also heard from RCMP blood spatter expert Sgt. Jim Hignell, who said the blood spatter at the scene was consistent with Koester's account of what happened and was "most likely what happened."

However, Rubin said Slemko's report suggests that when the gun was fired, the officer was either behind Bush or to the side of him — not underneath him.

Bush was arrested in October 2005 for having an open beer outside a hockey game and for giving a false name to the officer. He was taken to the RCMP detachment and, 20 minutes later, he was dead.

The inquest into the shooting began May 22 in the northwestern B.C. community.