HOUSTON, B.C. - A lifelong friend of a man shot to death in police custody told an inquest Tuesday that Ian Bush was not drinking very much the night he was killed.
Scott Stapleton said Bush liked drinking but had heartburn as a group of friends bought cases of beer before a hockey game.
He said Bush just had a few drinks and was holding someone else's beer when he was arrested.
Bush, 22, died from a police bullet during a struggle with a rookie Mountie at the local RCMP detachment less than an hour later.
He was arrested after he gave false names to Const. Paul Koester.
Stapleton was asked by RCMP lawyer Helen Roberts whether Bush had previous encounters with the police.
"Doesn't everyone have encounters with police?'' Stapleton said. "I have.''
She reminded the jury that an autopsy showed Bush had consumed a minimum of seven and up to 14 beers before the fatal altercation.
"I didn't say he was drunk,'' Stapleton said. "I was.''
He testified that a group of friends including Bush had been to see a midget hockey game at the arena that afternoon and then they all went out and bought beer.
He said each one of the six friends bought a 12-pack but he did not remember anyone purchasing hard liquor.
Roberts said "you don't remember anyone mixing drinks?''
He said no one was mixing drinks and "I can remember everything.''
Roberts pointed to a statement Stapleton gave major crime investigators the afternoon after the shooting when he told police Bush had had five or six drinks.
Stapleton said he had just heard of his friend's death minutes before the investigators started asking him questions and he was dealing with that at the time.
Coroner Shane DeMeyer explained to the jury his reasons for not allowing the Bush family's lawyer's application to have a second forensics expert testify.
"A post-investigation critique of how well or how poorly an investigation has been carried out goes beyond the scope of any matter arising out of the inquest,'' DeMeyer said.
"The jury's recommendations are to be directed to measures that will assist in preventing or lessening the likelihood of deaths occurring in similar circumstances in the future.
"It is unlikely that deaths in police custody will be prevented or lessened in response to a change in the manner in which they are investigated.''
DeMeyer said he was aware of the general public debate into the issue of whether independent investigators should be brought in in cases of in custody deaths
But he said "broader public policy debates are better suited to the public inquiry process'' than the coroner's inquest process.
DeMeyer agreed to allow Bush's mother and sister to testify.
Linda and Andrea Bush are expected to testify about whether Ian Bush was injured in the days prior to the shooting.
The inquest resumed Tuesday after hearing evidence in late May.
During the break, DeMeyer commissioned a report from a certified pathologist and dermatologist who determined that a mark on the young man's inner thigh was a bruise but could not determine whether it occurred before or during the fatal struggle.
DeMeyer told the jury that he will allow blood spatter expert Joe Slemko, called by the Bush family's lawyer, to testify later in the week.
Koester has testified he was underneath Bush when he fired the fatal shot but Slemko reviewed photos and other evidence from the crime scene and concluded that wasn't possible.
