The mother of a 16-year-old shot dead at the end of a police chase cried at the opening of the coroners inquest into the teen's death on Monday.

It is three years almost to the day that Kyle Tait was killed by a New Westminster Police officer, who fired shots into a stolen SUV. Tait was in the passenger seat.

"It brought back memories," said Tait's mother, Noelle. "We haven't been able to move on."

On August 23, 2005, Tait was one of a group of teens being chased from Burnaby into New Westminster.

When the car barrelled to a stop against several parked cars, Const. Todd Sweet -- at the time a 15-year veteran on the force -- fired at the car.

Tait's family has been waiting three years to hear what happened that night. And one thing that brought back the memories was a recording of the police radio before the incident.

"We're pursuing this vehicle, it fled through a roadblock, almost striking some members," one person said in the recording. "Shots fired. Ten-four, we have shots fired."

The Tait family says Sweet didn't have to open fire on a vehicle full of teens.

"Basically the truth has to come out and maybe we'll get some justice for Kyle," said Noelle Tait.

But police maintain the SUV rammed Sweet's cruiser twice. Sweet's rookie partner was in the passenger seat. Police have always insisted he was in danger.

Another officer on the scene was Const. Decker Allen. He was a recruit at the time, on the job for only six months.

He did chest compressions on Kyle Tait. He told the inquest he had tried to pull over the teens in a roadblock moments earlier.

Allen knew Sweet. Months before the shooting, he had witnessed Sweet kicking a handcuffed suspect in the head. Sweet was later convicted of assault.

The Taits say Sweet shouldn't have been on active duty the night he killed Kyle Tait.

Sweet is still an employee of the New Westminster Police Department, but is on leave.

Const. Sweet will talk to the jury tomorrow, and later this week 18-year-old Ian Campbell, the man behind the wheel, will testify from his jail cell, where he is serving a six-year sentence.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington