OFFICER: VICTIM LIKELY PANICKED, SWALLOWED DRUGS

Michael Kurash probably panicked and swallowed a lethal dose of
cocaine because he didn't want to go to jail, police Cpl. Brian Kerr
testified yesterday at a coroner's inquest into the death of the 22-year-old.

Before his death on Oct. 17, 2006, Kurash was a street level drug
dealer, who cleared about $5,000 in a good week, said Kerr, former
head of the West Shore RCMP street crime unit.

On Sept. 8, 2006, Kerr executed a search warrant at the home of
Michael's father, Terry Kurash. In a safe in Michael's room, Kerr
found 96.1 grams of cocaine with a street value of about $8,000, 92
pills of crystal meth and $325 in U.S. cash. He also found $8,800 in
Canadian money in a jacket in Michael's closet.

Kurash was to appear in court in November 2006, charged with
possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
But on Oct. 17, he was pulled over in a seat-belt check at Tillicum
Mall and arrested by Saanich police for possession of a small amount
of marijuana.

Kurash was left alone to place a call to his lawyer. After the first
call, Const. Mathew Jones told Kurash they were going to strip search
him. Kurash asked to make another call.

After that call, Kurash said he was not consenting to the search.
During the strip search, two empty plastic baggies fell to the floor.
Jones asked Kurash where the drugs were. Kurash said there weren't
any. As Jones released Kurash from custody about 1:50 p.m., he warned
him if he had done "something stupid like swallowing drugs" he should
go to a hospital right away.

Asked by coroner's counsel John Orr if he could make suggestions
which might prevent similar deaths, Kerr said he was not critical of
the Saanich officers involved.

"I would have searched him before I allowed him to place the call to
his lawyer or I would have kept him in view while he made the call," said Kerr.

Earlier, the inquest was told that Kurash walked into Synergy Health
Management on Quadra Street just after 2 p.m. and asked medical
office assistant Lorraine Dainard if he could see a doctor right away.

"I think my stomach's going to explode," he told her. "I just need to
throw up. I need something right now."

Dainard told Kurash the doctor was with a patient and that there was
no medicine in the clinic to make him throw up. Dainard asked Kurash
what he swallowed. He didn't tell her.

After Kurash left the clinic, Dainard tried to find him to offer to
call an ambulance.

Orr read a statement by Kurash's friend Torrie Hill, who picked
Kurash up outside the medical clinic. Hill said Kurash told him he
had swallowed 4.4 grams of cocaine, but insisted he was fine. "My
mouth's a bit numb, but I'm OK," he told Hill, who repeatedly offered
to take him to the hospital.

Kurash asked Hill to drive him home. He said he would tell his father
what happened and go to the hospital.

"I wish I'd taken him straight to the hospital," said Hill, who
didn't think Kurash had taken a fatal dose. "He was laughing. He
didn't seem like he was going to go home and die two hours later."

"Everything's all good," Kurash told him. But it wasn't.

The inquest heard testimony from Terry Kurash, who found his son
lying unconscious on his back on the bathroom floor and tried to
revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Kurash struggled for
composure as Michael's sister Julie-Anne, mother Eileen Jespersen and
brother Jody wept in the front seats of the courtroom.

"His face was a pale blue colour. I didn't know what he had done. ...
I tried to shake him and I knew it was something really serious,"
said Terry Kurash. "I grabbed my cellphone and called 911."

The dispatcher told Kurash how to give his son CPR.

"I kept pushing on his chest, but I knew he was dead. I just knew,"
sobbed Kurash. "I was breathing into him but the air just came back
out ... It was a horrible experience."

Kerr told coroner Beth Larcombe it was the first time in his 25 years
as a Mountie a person had swallowed that amount of cocaine.

"I think it's an isolated thing and he made some very bad choices," said Kerr.

Kurash's lawyer Chris Massey has refused to answer questions at the
inquest after receiving advice from a bencher, a senior member of the
law profession, that to do so would violate his obligation to
maintain confidentiality.

Larcombe will advise the inquest jury to consider a recommendation
that the Law Society find a way to allow lawyers to be helpful at
future coroner's inquests and still maintain the integrity of
solicitor-client privilege.

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