Man shot in back of head, RCMP shooting inquest told

A coroner's inquest in northern B.C.has been told a young mill worker who died in police custody in Houston in 2005 was shot in the back of the head by an RCMP officer.

Ian Bush, 22, had been arrested for drinking beer with friends outside a hockey game and then giving Const. Paul Koestera false name. He was taken to the local detachment office. Twenty minutes later, he was dead.

After the inquest opened Tuesday, the jury was shown graphic photographs of the young man's body, crumpled face first on a couch in a police interview room. Bush is lying on one arm and he has one shoe on and one shoe off.

Autopsy photos show he was shot in the back of the head with the bullet lodged in his forehead. He has other fresh head injuries, as well as a large bruise on his inner thigh.

Coroner's lawyer Mitch Hougsaid Koester will testify that he acted in self-defence after Bush got angry and struck the Mountie in the head with enough force to stun him.

But Bush's friend, James MacInnis, is among those who don't believe that's true. "I don't see how they can call it self-defence if you shoot someone in the back of the head. That means their back is turned to you."

Mountie first used pistol to strike Bush

Hougsaid Koester will testify that after Bush hit him in the head, a fight began and he used his pistol as a bludgeon to strike Bush before he pulled the trigger.

Photographs taken just hours after the shooting show Koester with cuts to his eye, forehead and cheek.

An internal RCMP investigation determined that Koester fired in justifiable self-defence during a violent struggle, and he was not charged.

B.C.Attorney General Wally Oppal has publicly defended the decision not to charge the officer.

"He feared at that time for his life. That's the evidence we have. That's the only evidence we have."

Koesteris just one of 20 witnesses scheduled to testify at the inquest this week at the Houston community hall.

Victim's mother braced for 'uncomfortable' testimony

Linda Bush, the victim's mother who is suing the RCMP, said she is feeling anxious about the testimony she expects to hear.

"We're just preparing ourselves to hear things we may be uncomfortable hearing about what happened to Ian, and what the other side will say was the cause of it," Bush said.

"They're going to continue to blame Ian, and try to say he instigated and all of those kind of things, because it is the only defence that the officer who kills someone has."

The inquest will not find fault or lay blame, but will try to find out what happened.