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Frechette death ruled a suicide

Coroner's jury decision makes no reference to Taser deployment
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A smiling Frank Frechette, centre, is surrounded by family in this image, which greeted members of the jury in the coroner’s inquest into his death. The three-day hearing opened Tuesday in Burnaby.

Frank Frechette died as a result of massive blood loss caused by self-inflicted knife wounds to his left chest and abdomen, a coroner's inquest into the Langley man's death has ruled.

The jury of three men and two women made the determination at the end of a three-day hearing last week into the Sept, 30, 2008 death of the 49-year-old Frechette, who jumped naked through the second-story living room window of his Langley City home following a botched bank robbery.

He was Tasered by an RCMP officer after he ignored police commands to surrender and tried to re-enter the house.

His girlfriend Trina Toffan said Frechette irrational after he robbed a Brookswood bank only to discover the money had been booby trapped with an exploding dye pack.

She said a distraught Frechette tried to scrub the dye off, then stabbed himself in the chest before leaping through the window.

He kept saying "I won't go back" over and over, a reference to a previous prison term.

Investigators have concluded that the two stab wounds were self-inflicted with a butcher knife taken from a kitchen drawer.

An autopsy determined the cause of death was the result of severe blood loss from a stab wound that punctured Frechette’s lung.

Pathologist Dr. David Charlesworth said it was impossible to determine from the angle of the stab wounds if the injuries were definitely self-inflicted.

Dr. Charlesworth could not say if the shock from the Taser darts played any part in Frechette’s, death, but thought the fact Frechette was still alive and breathing “post-Tasering” made it unlikely.



Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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