RCMP Watch

Ian Mulgrew, Victoria Times ColonistThe body of a 22-year-old millworker fatally shot by an RCMP officer was allowed to decompose for three days before it was delivered to the pathologist for an autopsy.

In a staggering revelation at the inquest into the controversial death of Ian Bush on the night of Oct. 29, 2005, Dr. John Stefanelli told the five-person jury it took police until probably 10 or 11 a.m. on Nov. 1 to deliver the corpse to Kamloops.

It lay unrefrigerated and deteriorating in the detachment interview room until the late afternoon of Oct. 31.

“Usually the bodies arrive somewhat quicker,” Stefanelli told the inquest Thursday. “I think this is longer than usual. I wouldn’t want to say it’s the only case that’s this long, but it’s longer than average.”

He said “the quicker we can have access to the body the better.”

The Kamloops pathologist, who examined Bush on the third day after his death, said the unusual delay in performing the autopsy made his findings “problematic.”

He said the delay and attendant decomposition made it more difficult to detect bruising on the body, for instance.

The pathologist’s testimony is important because rookie Const. Paul Koester, who had been on duty for only five months, says he didn’t hit Bush during the struggle or try to knee him in the groin, one of the defensive hand-to-hand combat moves he was taught in RCMP training.

But his version of events has not been entirely supported by radio transcripts or other evidence and Bush’s family had hoped the autopsy results might have cleared up some of the confusion. Instead, it has added to it and raised other concerns.

Stefanelli, who works out of Kamloops, acknowledged he failed to document in his report what appears to be a major bruise on the inside of Bush’s thigh. He also conceded he did not make notes of which RCMP officers were present at the autopsy or their discussions with him about “what went down.”

He admitted it would’ve been helpful if he’d made a more thorough investigation of the apparent thigh bruise, but “you can’t spend three days on an autopsy.”

It was an “oversight,” he said, that was “inadvertently left out of my written report.

“It’s a judgment call about what’s significant.”

The veteran pathologist said during a testy exchange with the Bush family lawyer, Howard Rubin, that he didn’t record the various scenarios of the slaying mentioned by the RCMP because “I was busy doing the autopsy.”

Koester says he fatally shot Bush in the back of the head after the man violently attacked him in the detachment’s interview room and began choking the life out of him. The Bush family disputes that and says the constable’s explanation of how the slaying happened is “physically impossible.”

They also point out that he has steadfastly refused to do a re-enactment either for investigators or the coroner.

Rubin says the RCMP targeted Bush at the arena the night of his death because they thought he’d fled a drunk driving incident previously. But the family’s lawyer insists they were wrong about the young man, and noted he had no convictions on his record.

Although other people were stopped for having open liquor at the first hockey game of the season, Bush was the only one given a ticket, Rubin says. Koester arrested Bush and took him to the detachment in handcuffs to teach him a lesson, the lawyer says.

Rubin has suggested the officer’s story is bogus and the discolouration on Bush’s thigh is testament to Koester having been more active in the struggle than he says. There was also bruising around Bush’s eyes that is consistent with being hit in the face, but Stefanelli said that might also have been caused by the 9-mm slug.

He said the gun was probably in partial contact with the back of Bush’s head when it fired because he found soot and unburned powder around the entry wound. Stefanelli said the bullet churned through Bush’s skull, killing him instantly before coming to rest on the outside of the skull but still below the skin on Bush’s forehead.

The impact of the slug extensively shattered Bush’s skull so that even bones in his face were cracked, and that might also account for the swelling around his eyes, he added. The massive trauma from the gunshot wound also made it difficult, Stefanelli said, to determine if three other smaller wounds on the back of Bush’s head would have rendered him unconscious.

In other testimony today, the first officer on the scene of the slaying said he found Koester lying on the floor of the interview room where the shooting occurred in a “three-quarters fetal position” sobbing uncontrollably.

The inquest continues.Body decomposed in RCMP detachment for three days

Ian Mulgrew
Times Colonist

Friday, May 25, 2007

HOUSTON - The body of a 22-year-old millworker fatally shot by an RCMP officer was allowed to decompose for three days before it was delivered to the pathologist for an autopsy.

In a staggering revelation at the inquest into the controversial death of Ian Bush on the night of Oct. 29, 2005, Dr. John Stefanelli told the five-person jury it took police until probably 10 or 11 a.m. on Nov. 1 to deliver the corpse to Kamloops.

It lay unrefrigerated and deteriorating in the detachment interview room until the late afternoon of Oct. 31.

“Usually the bodies arrive somewhat quicker,” Stefanelli told the inquest Thursday. “I think this is longer than usual. I wouldn’t want to say it’s the only case that’s this long, but it’s longer than average.”

He said “the quicker we can have access to the body the better.”

The Kamloops pathologist, who examined Bush on the third day after his death, said the unusual delay in performing the autopsy made his findings “problematic.”

He said the delay and attendant decomposition made it more difficult to detect bruising on the body, for instance.

The pathologist’s testimony is important because rookie Const. Paul Koester, who had been on duty for only five months, says he didn’t hit Bush during the struggle or try to knee him in the groin, one of the defensive hand-to-hand combat moves he was taught in RCMP training.

But his version of events has not been entirely supported by radio transcripts or other evidence and Bush’s family had hoped the autopsy results might have cleared up some of the confusion. Instead, it has added to it and raised other concerns.

Stefanelli, who works out of Kamloops, acknowledged he failed to document in his report what appears to be a major bruise on the inside of Bush’s thigh. He also conceded he did not make notes of which RCMP officers were present at the autopsy or their discussions with him about “what went down.”

He admitted it would’ve been helpful if he’d made a more thorough investigation of the apparent thigh bruise, but “you can’t spend three days on an autopsy.”

It was an “oversight,” he said, that was “inadvertently left out of my written report.

“It’s a judgment call about what’s significant.”

The veteran pathologist said during a testy exchange with the Bush family lawyer, Howard Rubin, that he didn’t record the various scenarios of the slaying mentioned by the RCMP because “I was busy doing the autopsy.”

Koester says he fatally shot Bush in the back of the head after the man violently attacked him in the detachment’s interview room and began choking the life out of him. The Bush family disputes that and says the constable’s explanation of how the slaying happened is “physically impossible.”

They also point out that he has steadfastly refused to do a re-enactment either for investigators or the coroner.

Rubin says the RCMP targeted Bush at the arena the night of his death because they thought he’d fled a drunk driving incident previously. But the family’s lawyer insists they were wrong about the young man, and noted he had no convictions on his record.

Although other people were stopped for having open liquor at the first hockey game of the season, Bush was the only one given a ticket, Rubin says. Koester arrested Bush and took him to the detachment in handcuffs to teach him a lesson, the lawyer says.

Rubin has suggested the officer’s story is bogus and the discolouration on Bush’s thigh is testament to Koester having been more active in the struggle than he says. There was also bruising around Bush’s eyes that is consistent with being hit in the face, but Stefanelli said that might also have been caused by the 9-mm slug.

He said the gun was probably in partial contact with the back of Bush’s head when it fired because he found soot and unburned powder around the entry wound. Stefanelli said the bullet churned through Bush’s skull, killing him instantly before coming to rest on the outside of the skull but still below the skin on Bush’s forehead.

The impact of the slug extensively shattered Bush’s skull so that even bones in his face were cracked, and that might also account for the swelling around his eyes, he added. The massive trauma from the gunshot wound also made it difficult, Stefanelli said, to determine if three other smaller wounds on the back of Bush’s head would have rendered him unconscious.

In other testimony today, the first officer on the scene of the slaying said he found Koester lying on the floor of the interview room where the shooting occurred in a “three-quarters fetal position” sobbing uncontrollably.

The inquest continues.