CORONER'S JURY SUGGESTS MORE TREATMENT FACILITIES

B.C. should have more funded treatment facilities for people with
mental-health and drug problems, a coroner's jury looking into the
death of a cocaine addict recommended yesterday evening.

David Kenneth Smelts, a 45-year-old cocaine addict, died Oct. 6,
2006, after crashing his car on the Trans-Canada Highway near Millstream Road.

The jury found that Smelts's death was accidental and said law
enforcement and emergency personnel "acted in an appropriate,
efficient and professional manner."

His sister Maureen Munro testified at a B.C. coroner's inquest
yesterday that Smelts asked for help on many occasions, adding, "They
would talk to him for a while and give him a pamphlet."

Munro argued people like her brother should receive mental-health
treatment along with addiction counseling. "Mental health and drug
addiction go hand in hand. You cannot treat them separately."

Dianne Schwab, another of Smelts's four sisters, testified that her
brother, who at one time owned a successful computer business, likely
struggled with depression his entire life. "David never really
learned a lot of the coping skills you use before you turn to
something like drugs or alcohol."

The six-person inquest jury also heard testimony from a pathologist,
who concluded the cause of death to be cocaine intoxication.

Other testimony revealed Smelts was delirious and flailing when
police, paramedics and passersby came to help minutes after the
crash. Even sitting in his damaged car, Smelts was struggling to
inject himself with more cocaine and 10 needles were found in his car.

The inquest heard a videotaped statement yesterday from Westshore
RCMP Const. Claudia Wytrwal, who said one police officer called for a
Taser to restrain Smelts. But Wytrwal said she radioed that using a
Taser on somebody undergoing excited delirium might not be advisable.

Police restrained Smelts bodily and put him in handcuffs. Seconds
later, they noticed his heart had stopped beating.

Paramedics worked to revive Smelts, but he was declared dead on
arrival at hospital.

The inquest was mandatory under B.C. law because police had
technically taken Smelts into custody at the time of his death. The
goal is not to find fault but to recommend ways to prevent future,
similar deaths.