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coroner
Few answers in head-on collision that killed Vernon boy
VERNON - What caused a vehicle carrying a Vernon boy to swerve across Highway 97 a year ago remains a mystery, even with the findings of a coroners report. The May 4, 2014 accident killed Rodney Michael Boring, 14, on a stretch of Highway 97 going through Lake Country. Boring was the passenger in a...
Death of teen snowmobiler at Hunters Range ruled accidental
VERNON - Brandon Oullette set off on his snowmobile in Hunters Range last December with the intention of meeting his father further up the trail, but the 16-year-old never made it. A coroners report into his death says Oullette took the more difficult route up a steep, snowy mountainside after heading out with his dad...
Coldstream woman killed in tragic boating accident was an avid water skier: Coroner
CHERRYVILLE - A woman who died in a water skiing accident last summer was killed by a cervical spine fracture sustained when she struck the water face down, says a B.C. Coroner who has ruled her death accidental. Brenda Lee Anne Roine, 46, was boating on Sugar Lake near Cherryville on the Canada Day long...
Foul play was not involved in sudden death of Lumby man
LUMBY - RCMP and the B.C. Coroners Service have determined there was no foul play involved in the death of a Lumby man last month. Police were called to the 1000-block of Trinity Valley Road, April 24, after a 79-year-old man died in an accident on his rural property. Lumby RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce said...
Name of hitchhiker killed on highway near Cache Creek released
CACHE CREEK - The pedestrian killed by a truck while walking on the Trans Canada near Cache Creek two weeks ago. Clarence William Luggi, 45, who was recently living in Vancouver, was walking along Highway 1 on April 11 around 5 a.m. when he was struck by a pickup truck travelling in the same direction,...
Teen killed in fatal fall from cliff not using climbing gear: RCMP
VERNON - It looks like an 18-year-old wasn’t using any safety equipment when he decided to go rock climbing and wound up taking a fatal fall from a rock face near Vernon on the weekend. The teenager, who has yet to be identified, was camping with three friends when the group decided to go rock...
Kamloops RCMP need help identifying body found in February
KAMLOOPS - People hiking in a wooded area off Rose Hill Road found the body of a man in February and now RCMP and the B.C. Coroners Service are asking for help in identifying him. The body was found Feb. 21 in the area popular with hikers and dog-walkers. In a media release issued Thursday,...
ATV crash kills one on Greenstone Mountain
KAMLOOPS - A man has died after he failed to properly negotiate a curve and lost control of his ATV on Greenstone Mountain Saturday. The B.C. Coroners Service says Joshua William Pollard Zapf was operating his quad ATV on the mountain around 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, when he failed to make a curve....
Coroner releases findings into fatal Easter crash near Vernon
VERNON - A driver who crossed into the wrong lane on Highway 97 two years ago made no attempt to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle, a coroner’s report into the deaths of three people has found. In her report, Margaret Janzen of the B.C. Coroners Service describes the 2013 Easter Sunday collision that killed Eric...
Salmon Arm teen who died in snowmobile accident identified
ENDERBY - The teen who died in a snowmobiling accident near Enderby over the weekend was Brandon Edward Oullette, 16, from Salmon Arm. According to a release from the B.C. Coroners Service, Oullette was snowmobiling with his father and others at Hunters Range, just north east of Enderby, around 10:30 a.m. Dec. 28 when his...
City and RCMP open to policy changes following jury recommendations
PENTICTON - The City and RCMP are actively considering implementation of recommendations made by a jury following a coroner’s inquest into the death of 30-year-old Steven J. Scott who died in police custody two years ago. The RCMP have already implemented some changes after Scott’s death that the jury also recommended be made. One suggestion...
ARCHER: The importance of being a jury member
I spent three days this week at the Penticton courthouse sitting in on a coroner’s inquest for the death of a 30-year-old man, Steven Joseph Scott, who died two years ago while in police custody. I had never been to an inquest before and was happily surprised to find the five-person jury and all the...
Jury finds death accidental, makes recommendations
'STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING AN ALCOHOL DETOXIFICATION CENTRE IN THE SOUTH OKANAGAN' PENTICTON - The coroner’s inquest on the death of Steven J. Scott who died two years ago while in police custody has ended with recommendations from a five-person jury on how to improve conditions to avoid a similar incident in the future....
CORONER’S INQUEST: Penticton lacking substance abuse resources and police manpower
PENTICTON - The need for more rehabilitation resources and police manpower were the running themes of this morning’s testimonies made during the coroner’s inquest on the death of Steven J. Scott who died in a cell at the Penticton RCMP detachment two years ago. Patricia Gartner, a social worker at the Penticton Regional Hospital oversaw...
Cause of in-custody death related to alcohol withdrawal: Pathologist
PENTICTON - The cause of death of Steven J. Scott, who died in a cell at the Penticton RCMP detachment two years ago, was determined to be a breathing problem related to alcohol withdrawal. Dr. William R. Currie, a now-retired pathologist at the Penticton Regional Hospital performed the autopsy of Scott, 30, who was found...
Officer may have overlooked dead prisoner in early morning checks
PENTICTON - Video surveilance footage from the holding cell in which Steven J. Scott died two years ago shows he was possibly dead during early-morning checks. The coroner’s inquest for Steven Joseph Scott, a 30-year-old man who died in a Penticton RCMP detachment cell in August 2012 continued today with testimony from the watch commander...
Firefighters did not ‘appreciate the danger’ of shipping container that exploded, killing fireman
VERNON - A volunteer fireman was in the wrap-up stage of a fire call when a shipping container exploded a few metres away and he was struck by a large metal door flying through the air, the B.C. Coroners Service said. Daniel Joseph Botkin, 25, was killed by multiple blunt force trauma on impact, coroner...
Bastion Place dementia patient died of natural causes
SALMON ARM - A 93-year-old dementia patient who wandered into another resident’s room at a care home in Salmon Arm and died four days later passed of natural causes, according to a coroner’s report. Bastion Place staff saw John Edward Young sleeping in his bed at 11:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Half an hour later, they...
Coroner confirms identity of man found dead
KELOWNA - A man found dead in a wooded area of Kelowna Wednesday has been identified. The B.C. Coroners Service says he was Melvin Davis Maygard, 56, of West Kelowna. A passerby found Maygard on the ground Sept. 3 on the banks of Mill Creek near the intersection of Enterprise Way and Commerce Avenue. The...
Body of drowned Coldstream man found
REVELSTOKE - Searchers have found the body of a Coldstream man who went missing after jumping into Revelstoke Lake July 30. Authorities were notified at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday that the 28-year-old had jumped from the Laforme Creek bridge and never resurfaced. The Laforme Creek Bridge, 20 km north of the Revelstoke Dam on Highway 23...
Police identify longboarder killed in crash
VERNON - Police have identified the Vernon teen who died in a tragic longboarding accident Sunday night. “We have been in touch with his family,” RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “It’s very devastating.” The 17-year-old, who was rushed to hospital in critical condition, had no ID on him and his family did not immediately come...
Canada Day water skiing mishap claims Coldstream woman’s life
LUMBY – A 46-year-old Coldstream woman is dead after a water skiing accident on Sugar Lake on Canada Day. Lumby RCMP say they received a report at about 6:15 p.m. on July 1 about an unconscious woman. The victim had been water skiing with her husband driving the boat and family members acting as spotters....
Woman who died in accident near Peachland identified
PEACHLAND - The B.C. Coroners Service has identified a woman who died in a crash near Peachland, June 26. She was Barbara Lynn Garrett, 69, of Penticton. The accident happened shortly after noon at the intersection of Highway 97 and Trepanier Bench Rd. At the time, RCMP Sgt. Wade Severson said a northbound SUV hit...
Man in fatal traffic accident near Vernon identified
VERNON - The B.C. Corners Service has identified the man who died in a traffic accident June 4 on Highway 97 near Vernon. He was Brian Victor Dolman, 64, of Oyama. Dolman was the driver and only person inside the Subaru SUV when he veered out of the southbound lanes near the Birnie Road turnoff...