Inquest begins into Steve Mesic shooting

(Updated)

A coroner’s inquest started in Hamilton Monday looking into the police shooting death of Steve Mesic.

Steve Mesic Sr. said that there were some notable discrepancies in the story that the public is being told. Most notably, the fact that St. Joseph’s Hospital has records of Steve Mesic being spotted inside the ward after 10am, when we do know that he had likely already been shot and killed by police at his home near Upper Wellington and the Lincoln Alexander Parkway

Shortly after 8:30am, Steve Mesic took a walk from St. Joseph’s on June 7th, 2013. He had been granted a pass from the psych ward. He was next spotted at the Jolley Cut where he stepped out in front of a bus. He was knocked down by the bus but the bus was broken and he was unhurt. He got up and fled the scene. He was next spotted walking on the Lincoln Alexander Parkway. The police were soon called and they confronted Mesic at his own back yard at Upper Wellington and the Linc. Which is where he was shot and killed.

The inquest was given two very different descriptions of Steve. First to testify was his fiance Sharon Dorr. She described Steve as having battled anxiety for years and going through a downward spiral last May which came to a head in June when Steve took 10 sleep aids and drank two bottles of wine. He collapsed. Sharon heard him and called 911. He was then taken to St. Joe’s. It was there they learned that he had thought’s of suicide. And we learned today that he had three previous suicide attempts when he was 18-years old, 21-years old and 40-years old — which was news to many people in the courtroom, including his fiance Sharon.

We also heard from Dr. Patricia Rosebush, the psychiatrist who saw Steve when he was at the ward. She said that he seemed extremely healthy. Although he had admitted to thoughts of suicide, he expressed that he had no intentions of hurting himself, which is where the day pass came from. That was the proceedings in the first day. It will resume with Dr. Rosebush’s completed testimony and possibly both of the officers that responded to the scene and fired their arms will be called to the stand.