INQUEST HEARS ARRESTED MAN LIKELY SWALLOWED DRUGS BEFORE DEATH

On Oct. 17, 2006, Saanich police Const. Mathew Jones released Michael
Kurash from police custody, warning the young man that if he kept
messing with drugs it would catch up with him.

"I looked him right in the eye and said 'If you've done something
stupid like swallowed drugs, you've got to get to an Emergency right
away,'" Jones testified yesterday at the inquest into the death of
the 22-year-old Victoria man.

A few hours later, Kurash was dead. Toxicology found a very high
concentration of cocaine in his heart blood and undigested cocaine in
his stomach.

This is the third inquest since April, led by coroner's counsel John
Orr, where a person has died from ingesting drugs. Orr and presiding
coroner Beth Larcombe are trying to establish if the risk of
ingesting drugs is well known among youth.

"I know the risk," witness Cameron Stewart told Orr. "It's very high.
You shouldn't do that kind of stuff. It was a bad experience for me
when the cops told me Mike had died."

At 12:45 p.m. on Oct. 17, Stewart and Kurash were pulled over in a
seatbelt check at Tillicum Mall.

When Jones discovered Stewart was wanted on a warrant by West Shore
RCMP, he arrested him. The officer then searched Stewart's truck and
found a very small amount of marijuana under the passenger's seat
where Kurash had been sitting. Kurash was arrested and handcuffed.
Police found two cellphones and $800 in cash in Kurash's pockets. As
he started to search near Kurash's groin, Kurash yelled, 'Watch it,
that's my nuts,' the officer testified.

Jones believed Kurash was hiding drugs on his body. He brought the
nervous, standoffish man to Saanich Police Department. Jones read him
his rights, put him in an interview room and brought him a phone to
call lawyer Dale Marshall. Marshall was not available, but an
associate was. Jones passed the phone to Kurash and left the room.

After the first phone call, Jones told Kurash he was going to strip search him.

"He became more nervous," Jones recalled. "He asked 'Why do you have
to do that? I have more questions for my lawyer.'"

Kurash's request seemed reasonable, said Jones, who left the room
while Kurash made a second phone call.

After the call, Kurash told them he was not consenting to a strip
search. But Jones and Const. Jeff Grenier went ahead. During the
strip search, two empty plastic bags fell to the floor.

Jones asked where the drugs were. Kurash said there weren't any
drugs, the officer testified. With no evidence, Jones wrote up a
violation ticket for the seatbelt offence.

Although the officer suspected Kurash had swallowed drugs, Jones told
the jury he didn't have the authority to hold Kurash. Kurash was not
showing any signs of impairment or illness when he left the police station.

Kurash's girlfriend Cheryl Tyndall picked him up a few minutes later
at Boston Pizza. She asked him what was wrong. "He told me he'd been
strip searched and swallowed cocaine," Tyndall testified.

"Did you know that was trouble?" asked Orr. "Yes. It's a drug,"
Tyndall replied.

She drove Kurash to a clinic on Quadra Street. He jumped out of the
car and went in. But a few minutes later, he came out of the clinic
and drove off in another friend's car. Tyndall thought the friend was
taking Kurash to the hospital.

The inquest continues today at 9 a.m. at the Victoria Courthouse.