12/09/06, Gary Mason, Ian Bush's mother is still puzzled, haunted
Post
VANCOUVER — As much as Linda Bush has always wanted to know how her only son ended up dead at the hands of an RCMP officer in Houston, B.C., almost 11 months ago, she's also tried not to think too much about what the final moments of his life were like.
"It was always too difficult to imagine," Linda says over the phone.
During the past few days, however, she's thought of little else.
Ever since Constable Paul Koester filed a statement of defence last week in a civil suit launched by the Bush family, Linda has tried to imagine the scenario painted by the young police officer. She can't. Nor can her two daughters, Anni and Renee. Nor can most anyone who knew the 22-year-old mill worker.
"Ask anyone who knew Ian if that situation the officer describes makes any sense and they'll say no," Linda says. "None of it makes sense. But all we can hope for is something will come out at the inquest that makes a little more sense."
By now, the facts of this case are known to most Canadians. Mr. Bush was arrested outside the Houston arena the night of Oct. 29, 2005, for having an open beer. When he was asked his name by Constable Koester, he jokingly gave him a friend's name instead.
Mr. Bush was put in the back of the officer's cruiser in handcuffs.
Twenty minutes later, he was dead.
In his statement, Constable Koester said he had taken the handcuffs off Mr. Bush and had just asked him to sign a document promising he would appear in court when he was suddenly, and without provocation, attacked by the young man.
He said Mr. Bush started punching him in the face.
In an effort to stop the attack, the officer says he told Mr. Bush he didn't have to sign the papers. The attack apparently continued. The officer said Mr. Bush started choking him from behind and at one point said: "Take your last breath."
The officer said he was at the point of unconsciousness when he took out his gun and hit Mr. Bush with the barrel of it several times in an effort to get free. He then shot Mr. Bush in the back of the head.
"Ian was a really smart kid," his mother says. "He knew the trouble you would get in for attacking a police officer. He'd never do that unprovoked. I just can't believe that something was not done or said that initiated that confrontation and it wasn't done or said by Ian."
She can't believe the officer, as a means of stopping the attack, would have told Ian he could leave the jail without signing the promise-to-appear documents. If he was getting beaten up, wouldn't the officer have pulled his gun right then to stop Mr. Bush?
Like many, Linda also wonders how an officer, allegedly at the point of unconsciousness, finds a way to get the nose of his gun around the back of Mr. Bush's head and shoot him.
"If you're being choked to death," Mrs. Bush says, "wouldn't your arms be flailing and wouldn't you be trying to grab at the hands or arms of the person doing the choking? You wouldn't think they'd be able to think clearly enough to take accurate aim and shoot someone.
"And then to suggest Ian said: 'Take your last breath.' That's just so unbelievable and completely far-fetched I can't tell you. It's a line from a movie or something."
Mrs. Bush says a couple of RCMP officers visited her home recently to inform her that the Crown was not going to charge Constable Koester in her son's death. They told her the RCMP had thoroughly investigated the shooting and re-enacted the scene based on the young constable's version of events.
"They told me that they decided it was plausible," she says.
But for Linda Bush and many others in the mill town of 4,000, none of it adds up. That is why many of those who knew Mr. Bush will pack the inquest when it's held in Houston later this year.
Meantime, Linda Bush struggles on. The past few days have not been good ones. Yesterday, she dropped her eight-year-old grandson off at school.
It brought back memories of those days she dropped off her own son. She has cried a lot recently. Cried as she wondered what her son's last moments were like.
Did he die instantly? Was there pain?
Linda had been seeing a government counsellor in Houston who helped her deal with her own pain. The counsellor was laid off in June. There is no one in Houston to help her now.
"It was nice to have someone to talk to about this stuff," she says.
"The last few days have been really, really tough. And I know I've got plenty more ahead."
gmason@globeandmail.com
"It was always too difficult to imagine," Linda says over the phone.
During the past few days, however, she's thought of little else.
Ever since Constable Paul Koester filed a statement of defence last week in a civil suit launched by the Bush family, Linda has tried to imagine the scenario painted by the young police officer. She can't. Nor can her two daughters, Anni and Renee. Nor can most anyone who knew the 22-year-old mill worker.
"Ask anyone who knew Ian if that situation the officer describes makes any sense and they'll say no," Linda says. "None of it makes sense. But all we can hope for is something will come out at the inquest that makes a little more sense."
By now, the facts of this case are known to most Canadians. Mr. Bush was arrested outside the Houston arena the night of Oct. 29, 2005, for having an open beer. When he was asked his name by Constable Koester, he jokingly gave him a friend's name instead.
Mr. Bush was put in the back of the officer's cruiser in handcuffs.
Twenty minutes later, he was dead.
In his statement, Constable Koester said he had taken the handcuffs off Mr. Bush and had just asked him to sign a document promising he would appear in court when he was suddenly, and without provocation, attacked by the young man.
He said Mr. Bush started punching him in the face.
In an effort to stop the attack, the officer says he told Mr. Bush he didn't have to sign the papers. The attack apparently continued. The officer said Mr. Bush started choking him from behind and at one point said: "Take your last breath."
The officer said he was at the point of unconsciousness when he took out his gun and hit Mr. Bush with the barrel of it several times in an effort to get free. He then shot Mr. Bush in the back of the head.
"Ian was a really smart kid," his mother says. "He knew the trouble you would get in for attacking a police officer. He'd never do that unprovoked. I just can't believe that something was not done or said that initiated that confrontation and it wasn't done or said by Ian."
She can't believe the officer, as a means of stopping the attack, would have told Ian he could leave the jail without signing the promise-to-appear documents. If he was getting beaten up, wouldn't the officer have pulled his gun right then to stop Mr. Bush?
Like many, Linda also wonders how an officer, allegedly at the point of unconsciousness, finds a way to get the nose of his gun around the back of Mr. Bush's head and shoot him.
"If you're being choked to death," Mrs. Bush says, "wouldn't your arms be flailing and wouldn't you be trying to grab at the hands or arms of the person doing the choking? You wouldn't think they'd be able to think clearly enough to take accurate aim and shoot someone.
"And then to suggest Ian said: 'Take your last breath.' That's just so unbelievable and completely far-fetched I can't tell you. It's a line from a movie or something."
Mrs. Bush says a couple of RCMP officers visited her home recently to inform her that the Crown was not going to charge Constable Koester in her son's death. They told her the RCMP had thoroughly investigated the shooting and re-enacted the scene based on the young constable's version of events.
"They told me that they decided it was plausible," she says.
But for Linda Bush and many others in the mill town of 4,000, none of it adds up. That is why many of those who knew Mr. Bush will pack the inquest when it's held in Houston later this year.
Meantime, Linda Bush struggles on. The past few days have not been good ones. Yesterday, she dropped her eight-year-old grandson off at school.
It brought back memories of those days she dropped off her own son. She has cried a lot recently. Cried as she wondered what her son's last moments were like.
Did he die instantly? Was there pain?
Linda had been seeing a government counsellor in Houston who helped her deal with her own pain. The counsellor was laid off in June. There is no one in Houston to help her now.
"It was nice to have someone to talk to about this stuff," she says.
"The last few days have been really, really tough. And I know I've got plenty more ahead."
gmason@globeandmail.com
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