Coroner's inquest scheduled for man who died during fight with Whistler RCMP

Jason Koehler is pictured.

A Coroner’s inquest has been scheduled to look into the circumstances around a man’s death during a confrontation with the RCMP in Whistler, B.C., more than four years ago.

Jason Elwyn Koehler, who was 47 and owned a business in the municipality, died on March 8, 2020, after police officers tased, pepper-sprayed, punched and beat him with a baton while attempting to apprehend him at a Whistler Village restaurant.

The province’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., ruled the police did not use excessive force and did not find grounds to believe the involved officers committed any offences in relation to his death.

Coroner’s inquests are mandatory for any deaths that occur while a person is detained or in custody of the police.

The inquest will seek to determine the facts around Koehler’s death and a jury will be tasked with classifying it—as accidental, homicide, natural, suicide or undetermined—and making recommendations to prevent future deaths under similar circumstances.

The interaction began when staff reported to police Koehler was intoxicated and causing a disturbance.

According to the IIO report, which was compiled using statements from several witnesses and security video, the police interaction began calmly, and one officer took Koehler’s ID and asked him to come outside, but he refused.

About two minutes later, Koehler snatched the ID from the officer’s hand, and the officer moved to grab him. A violent fight “immediately” ensued between Koehler and three officers, who struggled to control him.

The report says Koehler threw the officers off him, flipped a table and chairs in their direction, and repeatedly refused to get on the ground, saying doing so would kill him. The officers tased him multiple times, but it reportedly failed again and again to subdue him.

After a fourth officer arrived for backup and further struggling ensued, the police eventually had Koehler lying on his stomach on the ground when he reportedly “went limp.”

The officers began CPR until firefighters and paramedics arrived. Koehler was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A toxicology test determined he had cocaine, methamphetamine, TCH metabolite and naloxone in his system. Koehler’s autopsy stated his cause of death was the combined effect of drug toxicity, dilated cardiomyopathy and struggle during physical restraint.

“While significant force was used against (Koehler) during the arrest, in the form of (conducted energy weapon) deployments, (pepper spray) and blows, the need for that level of force was created by (his) own violent resistance,” former IIO director Ronald MacDonald concluded in the report.

“There is no suggestion that any of those uses of force caused or contributed to (Koehler’s) death—or indeed caused any significant injury,” he continued. “(Koehler) was suffering from numerous serious health conditions and was further still at risk because of his consumption of narcotics, but the officers tasked with resolving the situation and placing him under arrest could not be expected to foresee that the struggle to achieve that would end in his death.”

The inquest will begin on Dec. 2 at 9:30 a.m. in the Burnaby Coroner’s Court, presided by Kimberly Isbister. The jury will hear from witnesses and will determine the facts around the death and can make recommendations, but it cannot make a finding of legal responsibility for any involved party.