KAMLOOPS — The BC Coroners Service has ordered an inquest into the June, 2014 death of a Williams Lake man at Royal Inland Hospital.
18-year-old Jacob George Setah died after a fall from the Royal Inland Hospital parkade.
Setah had been committed under the Mental Health Act just six days earlier, and on the day of his death, had escaped from a secure ward at the hospital.
Coroners Service spokesperson Barb McLintock says Setah’s lack of freedom is what’s led to the decision for this inquest.
“He was committed involuntarily under the Mental Health Act, one of the things that the Coroners Service, and our Cheif Coroner are very strong on is that any case in which someone dies when they are basically not free to go, when they are being held somewhere against their will by the state is a case that should be examined particularly carefully,” McLintock told CFJC Today.
McLintock notes RCMP were present at the time of Setah’s fatal injuries, but the Independent Investigations Office exonerated the Mounties from any wrongdoing.
The inquest is set to begin on April 11th.
