Inquest scheduled in RCMP officer’s death
The B.C. Coroners Service has scheduled a public inquest into the death of a former Prince George RCMP member who went on to become the police spokesman during the controversial Tasering death of Robert Dziekanski
Pierre Jean Dabe Lemaitre was 55 years old when he died July 29, 2013 in Abbotsford. He was a 22-year veteran of the RCMP who died as a result of self-inflicted injuries and on the same day RCMP officer Bill Bentley was acquitted of lying at a public inquiry about his role in the Oct. 14, 2007 death of the Polish immigrant at the Vancouver International Airport.
LeMaitre was the B.C. RCMP spokesman at the time of Dziekanski’s death and gave statements to the media on the matter that were later contradicted by a video recorded by a witness
The head of a subsequent inquiry, Thomas Braidwood, criticized a higher-ranking RCMP official for preventing Lemaitre from correcting the public record.
Lemaitre joined the RCMP in 1984 and most recently served in the B.C. RCMP traffic services division, according to media reports. Other postings throughout his career included Kamloops, Cranbrook, Langley and Bella Coola, according to a 2004 profile in the Burnaby Now newspaper.
The inquest will begin Nov. 19 at the Burnaby Coroners’ Court.
Presiding coroner Vincent Stancato, and a jury, will hear evidence from witnesses under oath to determine the facts surrounding this death. The jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances. A jury must not make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law.