Dead man's wife denies involvement with his death

Page 5

The wife of a man found dead underneath the city's Whoop-Up Bridge in 1984 denied having anything to do with his death.

When Lenore Sinclair was asked by a Blood Band lawyer if she had anything to do with Ivan Garry Chief Moon's death emphatically said no.

Chief Moon's body was found under the bridge Dec. 9, 1984. Police believe the 25 year old man fell accidently.

Commission lawyer Michael Stevens-Guille told Sinclair Wednesday, at the Rolf Inquiry investigating strained relation between the band and police, of a rumor implicating her in his

death.

The couple, married in 1982 and divorced by Aug. 1984, split because of Chief Moon's frequent drinking binges, when he often became violent, Sinclair told Judge Carl Rolf, the

man heading the $2 million provincial inquiry.

"Other that that, he was the sweetest man in the world," said Sinclair, who has since remarried.

She said Chief Moon had gone to Calgary, where she was living after their split, twice apparently attempting to patch things. Up.

"I don't want anything to do with you as long as you're drinking," Sinclair said she would reply to Chief Moon.

Sinclair said she hadn't seen Chief Moon for a number of months before his death.

Chief Moon's blood alcohol level was .20 percent.

A pathologist earlier in the inquiry testified Chief Moon's blood alcohol level could have been as high as .30 at the time of death.

In other testimony, an 18 year old girl who has a blossoming romance with Travis Many Grey Horses before he died in Nov. 1986, said rumors her jealous boyfriend killed Many Grey

Horses were unfounded.

"I thought it was pretty ridiculous," Penny Many Guns said.

Many Grey Horses' body was found April 10, 1987 -- nearly six month after went missing -- in the Oldman River near Diamond City, about 25 km northwest of here.

She said she asked her boyfriend about the rumors circulating amongst their peers and he told her, "even for me, he wouldn't go to that extent, to pull something like that," said

Many Guns.

Many Guns gave Many Grey Horses a necklace as a gift, but did not tell her boyfriend about it.

When asked what she thought happened to 18 year old Many Grey Horses, Many Guns said she didn't know.

"Anything, really, could have happened to him."

Lethbridge City Police Chief Terry Waters viewed the morning sitting of the inquiry which is taking a three week break until Sept. 12 when it resumes at Senator Gladstone Hall on the

Blood Reserve.

A day earlier at the inquiry, the ambulance driver who took Mike Eagle Bear to Cardston Municipal Hospital from the town's RCMP holding cells told the Rolf inquiry he alerted a

doctor about a head would on the victim.

"I can recollect that comment was made to (the doctor)," James Taylor said Wednesday.

Eagle Bear died about five hours after being arrested for public intoxication after he was found lying down in front of a residence in Stand Off, 85 km southwest of Lethbridge.

When Taylor said he spoke to the doctor at the hospital emergency unit, "he made some comment he knew this man and saved his life before," said Taylor.

Taylor said he did not check Eagle Bear's head himself but Eagle Bear was face down when Taylor first saw him.

"Transportation was the main priority at the time."

In earlier testimony, a veteran RCMP member at Cardston says the detachment will treat every drunk case on the Blood Reserve with importance -- despite handling man every day.

Cpl. Alfred Rudd, who's been working at the Cardston detachment since May 1981, says officers examine every person for possible injuries.

"Each and every person receives the best (medical attention) we can provide. They're not just another number," said Rudd.

Rudd, who has on "many occasions" fielded out, they will check the person's breathing, pulse and look for any external signs of injury.

Rudd said the reserve also has numerous drug overdoses, a source of consternation for the RCMP.

"The symptoms are so identical. Even if they have had jst one drink" and have ingested some other substances, it is hard for the RCMP to decide if the person is just passed out

from drinking or from substance abuse.

"I've gone to the doctor's and said, "I don't know what he's taken."

The cause of death was originally called chronic alcoholism, but it was later determined death was by an injury to the head.

When being questioned by commission lawyer Michael Stevens-Guille implied that by misplacing documentation he didn't carry out the investigation properly.

"That's insulting to me," Rudd said.

Wrapping up the investigation, Rudd called the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Eagle Bear to confirm cause of death and asked Dr. Rod MacKay if he noticed abrasions

to the head detected by the arresting officers.

MacKay told him he did not, but would look again.

"I was very surprised to hear the results. It never occurred to me it was anything other than chronic alcoholism," Rudd told the inquiry.

Carl Good Rider, a 27 year old Stand Off resident, was eventually charged and convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced t two years less a day for beating Eagle Bear over the

head with a hockey stick while fighting over a bottle of wine.

When Eagle Bear was found lying outside a Stand Off residence by RCMP officers, he was treated for what appeared to be minor head abrasions and then taken to RCMP holding

cells in Cardston.

Eagle Bear had a blood alcohol reading of .18 five hours after taken into custody.

The legal impairment limit in Canada is .08.

Earlier in Rudd's testimony, he told Judge Carl Rolf he felt "overwhelmed" when he moved to Cardston.

"It was like leaving the planet. It was a different world entirely from what I was used to," said Rudd.

He added most of the calls were from the reserve and seemed to "centre around liquor."