VANCOUVER — The B.C. Coroners Service has scheduled a public inquest into the death of William Ryan Fisher, a Stanley Cup rioter who died just days after beginning a three-year prison sentence.
Fisher, 30, died on Feb. 25, 2016, at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, four days after being transferred from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Maple Ridge, where he been found in medical distress.
Fisher was placed in the pretrial centre on Feb. 19, 2016. He was taken to hospital in the early hours of Feb. 21.
He was just starting a three-year sentence for a variety of charges relating to the 2011 Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver.
Fisher and another man, Russell Jean Milne, had received the most severe punishments handed out to rioters.
Both were found guilty of the aggravated assault of a man identified as a “Good Samaritan.”
Fisher had also been convicted of taking part in a riot, disguising his face with intent to commit indictable offence, mischief, assault, break and enter, failure to remain at scene of accident and breach of recognizance.
The Good Samaritan, Christopher Leveille, was punched, kicked and stomped, causing him to suffer a collapsed lung.
The B.C. Coroners Service inquest, which will begin July 17 at the Burnaby Coroners’ Court, will review the circumstances of Fisher’s death and explore whether there are opportunities for a jury to make recommendations that could prevent deaths in similar circumstances.
