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Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Thursday, 28 August 2008 |
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BURNABY, B.C. - The driver of a stolen SUV involved in a fatal police shooting says he feels responsible for the death of his teen passenger following a car chase with police.
Ian Campbell, now 21, apologized to the victim's family Thursday during video testimony from prison at a coroner's inquest into the shooting three years ago.
The inquest is looking into the death of 16-year-old Kyle Tait, a passenger in the SUV who was shot by New Westminster police officer Todd Sweet following the police chase in the early hours of Aug. 23, 2005.
Campbell, Tait and three other teens stole the vehicle in Vancouver and planned to sell it to a garage in neighbouring Surrey the night of the incident.
When police attempted to pull the vehicle over at a roadblock, Campbell sped away, leading police on a chase into Burnaby.
When the stolen SUV attempted to ram a police vehicle, Sweet has testified that he feared for the safety of his rookie partner and fired three shots.
Sweet has told the inquest that he had little choice but to fire, killing Tait in the passenger's seat.
He testified that he didn't know there were other teens inside the SUV until he pulled the wounded driver from the vehicle.
The inquest was put on hold last March after a lawyer for Tait's mother, Noelle, asked for more information about Sweet, who was given a conditional discharge following the Tait shooting.
It wasn't the first time Sweet has faced controversy.
Two months earlier, he'd been demoted and suspended without pay for five days after he kicked a handcuffed suspect in the head following a separate chase.
Coroner's inquests don't find fault, but instead make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. (CKNW, The Canadian Press)
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