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No Answers, Just More and More Questions in Death of Bush

By 250 News

Is there any reason why an investigation is being held into the death of 22 year old Ian Bush, given the press release by the RCMP from the division headquarters in Vancouver?

Here is the RCMP officer’s version of events which says, a male became very violent and attacked the officer. A violent struggle ensued and the twenty two year old male died at the scene. To make matters worse, the RCMP media officer, Cpl Tom Seaman, I talked to said “We are not going to comment on his death”, well not quite.

Here is the release issued by the RCMP on October 30th.

In Custody Death

On October 29 2005 at approx 10:00 pm a Houston RCMP officer was in the process of releasing a twenty-two year old male from custody. The officer and the male were in the Houston RCMP Detachment. The male became very violent and attacked the officer. A violent struggle ensued and the twenty-two year old male died at the scene.

North District Major Crime has taken over the investigation. An autopsy will be conducted and results of the investigation will be made available at later dates.

The family of the deceased, Ian Geoffrey BUSH, has been notified. The RCMP officer involved is recovering from his injuries.



Media enquiries on October 30th will be handled by E Div media relations.


Cpl. Tom Seaman
RCMP Media relations


Based on that information being released to the public, why in the world is the RCMP bothering with an investigation? They have already delivered the verdict in the matter and it certainly doesn’t favour young Bush, who by the way, will not be able to testify differently given the fact that he was shot dead by the officer in question.

Suggesting that a violent confrontation took place squarely puts the blame on Bush, after all, would the RCMP for a moment suggest that one of their members initiated a violent confrontation, neglecting of course to mention that the RCMP shot him dead. 

Now just take one step back and look at the big picture.  There were two people in the interrogation room, one is now dead.  

Where did the information on the events that took place come from?  They could only have come from the officer involved, the person who is now the subject of the police investigation.  When was the last time you heard of the RCMP releasing a statement from a person who, in this case,  is under investigation  in a potential wrongful death case?  When was the last time the RCMP rushed to  print  potential defenses  available  to a person who is under investigation?

And people wonder why we worry about bias?

It is a fact that two officers were on the scene when Bush was arrested. If Bush was so violent, why then were there not two officers in the interrogation room? After all, one of the officers knew Bush, he had attended the recent wedding of Bush’s sister and that is how he came to be arrested for obstruction of justice. That second officer identified Bush after Ian had said he was someone else.

To then suggest the officer in question is recovering from his injuries, again suggests Bush was to blame for this entire matter and the constable in question was injured just trying to perform his duty.

Now doesn’t that sound like a conviction long before any legal process has begun into what really took place? Of course bear in mind that two things of importance in the matter are missing;

1. Bush is not alive to tell his side of the story as to whether in fact it was the RCMP officer who initiated the attack, and
2. The video monitor that keeps a running record of what takes place in a police station was not working or wasn’t turned on.

The whole release from the RCMP headquarters points the finger squarely at Bush as the culprit in the matter to a point where the press release conveniently forgets to mention that the officer shot him in the head and he died from those injuries, not the “violent confrontation” that is alluded to.

We have courts and a judicial process in this country to ensure everyone receives a fair trial, including the officer in question.

Ian Bush has not had his day in court and has already been convicted.

I'm Meisner, and that is one man's opinion.

 

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