A year and a half after the tragic death in custody of Ian Bush at the Houston detachment of the RCMP, the case has finally been brought in front of a coroner's jury.
Mr. Bush was a twenty two year old mill worker, died on October 29, 2005 of wounds suffered when he was shot in the back of the head, a fatal wound that according to the RCMP was suffered after a violent struggle with the arresting officer at the Houston detachment on the night in question.
The five jurists who have gathered at the Community Hall in Houston will hear some twenty witnesses to the days events in Houston, they will then attempt to sift through the assembled evidence and testimony provided to come up with their recommendations.
A coroner's jury assesses no blame or fault, instead it's mission is to try to determine what happened in a particular incident and to make recommendations about that situation and how it can be best handled in the future.
Many not only in Houston, but across the province are hoping that one of the recommendations that will come out of the inquiry, will be the creation of an independent body to investigate police involved shootings, seperate from the RCMP or municipal forces in the province. It has been a much discussed prospect over the years, as the public and government tries to come to terms as to how best investigate the police when police involved deaths take place.
The first day of testimony was covered extensively on the CBC website, including some graphic descriptions of the wounds suffered by both Mr. Bush and the arresting officer, Const. Paul Koester.
Other media sites that have covered the days events in Houston include Opinion 250, The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Prince George Citizen, Canada.com, The Vancouver Sun and the local paper from the Houston area the Interior News.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment