In this photo, apparently taken prior to
the Bush's Beans dispute turning ugly,
is it possible Duke's plotting pure evil ???
Posted on 09/06/2006 10:01:23 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
VICTORIA (CP) - An RCMP officer won't be charged in the death of a man who was shot in the back of the head at a rural B.C. police detachment after he was arrested for drinking beer outside the local hockey arena.
The Criminal Justice Branch has concluded the "available evidence" doesn't support charging the officer involved in Ian Geoffrey Bush's death. Spokesman Stan Lowe said Tuesday the evidence supports that self defence was involved in Bush's death.
"We've determined that the available evidence supports self defence as a justifiable defence in these circumstances," he said.
Lowe said he couldn't elaborate on the available evidence and couldn't say if the evidence was provided solely by the officer involved in the shooting death or other witnesses. That information will come out during a public coroner's inquest, he said.
Bush's family said they were disappointed charges will not be laid.
"We're frustrated and sad and angry, and it's just all of that that comes from hearing bad news when you've been hoping and praying with all your heart to hear something else," said Bush's sister Andrea, 25.
Andrea Bush said she and her mother, Linda, were comforting each other Tuesday at her home in Houston, about 350 kilometres northwest of Prince George.
She said the decision not to lay charges doesn't give the Bush family anymore information about how or why he died.
"We don't know anything," said Bush. "I can't even begin to think what happened. It's beyond me. I can't understand how my brother could end up dead - for not even drinking a beer, but for having an open container of alcohol in public."
The family is taking some solace in that there will be a public coroner's inquest.
"Nothing will be a secret anymore," said Andrea Bush. "Then the public and us as a family will get to know what happened or as close to what happened as we can, I suppose."
Bush, 22, was arrested in October 2005 in Houston, and was shot to death in the RCMP detachment's interview room 20 minutes later.
Months later, the family learned Bush died from a shot to the back of the head.
His mother launched a lawsuit against Const. Paul Koester and B.C.'s attorney general and solicitor general.
In it, she claims her son's death was "directly caused by the unlawful assault and negligence of the defendant."
Also in her writ, Linda Bush said the attorney general had a duty to appoint a special prosecutor in the case because of the possibility of a conflict of interest.
In a statement of defence filed last month, the attorney general's office said the solicitor general's office, not the attorney general, is responsible for policing.
After the shooting, the RCMP's North District Major Crime Unit conducted an investigation and the results were sent to the New Westminster Police Department for a further, independent review.
The results of both probes were forwarded to the Crown in June and the Crown asked for further follow-up from the investigators on Aug. 8, Lowe said in the release.
The Crown's office in Prince George and at branch headquarters in Victoria conducted a "detailed examination" of the evidence, the release said.
Lowe said charges are laid based on "substantial likelihood of conviction."
That's judged on the basis of the evidence likely to be admissible in court, the weight that evidence would be given in court and the "likelihood that viable, not speculative, defences will succeed."
"The Criminal Justice Branch has concluded that the available evidence does not support charging the officer with any criminal offence," he said in a news release.
The RCMP said it could not comment on the case because the matter will become part of a civil suit and an inquest.
Cameron Ward, a lawyer who has acted for several families who have lost loved ones in misadventures with police, said he was not surprised at the decision not to lay charges because the Crown based its decision on police investigating police.
"These police-involved killings are investigated - in my experience - in a very different manner than investigations of homicides where police are not involved," he said.
"The police officers involved in such fatalities receive benefits that no ordinary member of the public would ever enjoy in the investigation process."
Ward does not represent the Bush family.
RCMP Sgt. John Ward said police investigations involving other police officers are thorough and above board.
"Absolutely the truth is found out," he said. "Investigations remain impartial and completely balanced and independent."
In Houston, on the 29th of each month, people join the Bush family for a candlelight vigil in front of the RCMP station, and a popular ball tournament this summer was renamed the Ian Bush Memorial.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
It's Bush's fault, finaly, an accurate statement.
Shot him in the back of the head in self defense, charges dropped. The family just got devastated again no doubt.
They sure have some tough open container laws up there.
I am surprised they didn't rule it a suicide. /s
He must have reached for his waistband. It's a near epidemic these days.
In this photo, apparently taken prior to
the Bush's Beans dispute turning ugly,
is it possible Duke's plotting pure evil ???
If a person can't detain someone for having an open beer without shotting them execution style, maybe the shouldn't be on the pilice force, hmm?
As far as the fact that all investigation regarding other police are above board.. I don't believe that for a second, not even in Canada.
The article says he was shot "at a rural police detachment", not "by". This would indicate locale not agency. He was already in custody it appears.
Were there powder burns/residue on the head? What was the distance of engagement?
No information is supplied to establish any of this.
Right. That's the problem in evaluating this situation. We really have nothing to go on.
Hmmm ~ does this guy have a cousin shooting football players down in San Diego?
That's a classic. Now if she'd been a man she'd shot off her penis.
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