The repeated Tasering Clark Whitehouse underwent while in RCMP custody in 2003 played no role in his death, a pathologist told a coroner's inquest Wednesday.

Laurel Grey, a Vancouver-based pathologist, said if Whitehouse was to die of the Taser's effects, it would have been immediately after he was stunned by the device.

According to evidence before this week's coroner's inquest, Whitehouse appeared to have been able to walk on his own after the Tasering and died en route to Whitehorse.

Whitehouse was Tasered at least three times near Carcross at least, that's how RCMP Const. Paul Thalhofer said he remembered it.

Thalhofer's Taser recorded that it had been fired five times that day within about a minute.

When Thalhofer was asked Wednesday why his Taser had recorded five shots, he said: 'I have no idea.'

Staff Sgt. Tim Walton, the current Whitehorse detachment commander, who in 2003 was in charge of the Yukon RCMP training section, said he doesn't know why the gun recorded five shots, while Thalhofer only remembers firing it three times.

'I don't know if the instrument was faulty,' said Walton. 'This is what the print-out gives me.'

An autopsy showed small dark marks on the left side of Whitehouse's torso and bruises to his wrists that are commonly seen on individuals who have been handcuffed.

Grey also found brain swelling that was related to the cardiac problems that Whitehouse had suffered.

Grey ruled Whitehouse's death to be caused by acute cocaine poisoning.

Whitehouse had consumed four times the lethal limit of cocaine on Sept. 28, 2003 after being chased by Thalhofer along the Lewes Lake Road near Carcross.

The 34-year-old's blood was found to contain 41 milligrams of cocaine per litre.

Grey is the second medical professional who ruled there was nothing that could have been done to save him, especially after Whitehouse went into cardiac arrest.

'CPR wouldn't have brought him back. Adrenaline to the heart wouldn't have brought him back,' said Grey. 'It was just a non-recoverable life.'

Cardiac arrests can be caused by cocaine overdoses as the drug increases the heart rate and blood pressure to the point of disabling the heart.

Emergency Medical Services worker Christine McKay, who was at the scene that day, said Whitehouse's heart could not be shocked into action as the external defibrillator could not detect any shockable rhythm.

McKay continued to administer CPR all the way to the Whitehorse General Hospital in an effort to get some sort of shockable pulse. Whitehouse was later declared dead at the hospital.

Dr. Brendon Hanley, a Yukon expert in emergency medicine, said the only way Whitehouse might have lived is if he'd consumed a form of liquified charcoal to absorb the cocaine within 10 minutes of ingesting the drug.

Jack Whitehouse, Clark Whitehouse's father, stated that emergency workers should be able to administer substances like charcoal, instead of having to wait for a doctor or a nurse to give out the drugs at the hospital.

He said this might save more people when time is of the essence.

Hanley said while that may be true, policy makers have to consider what level of expertise makes sense for the Yukon.

'Cost has to be considered,' said Hanley.

The bag of cocaine Whitehouse was carrying was big enough that Katy Delau, a witness who saw Whitehouse being chased by police, could see it from the window of her nearby trailer.

'It was quite fat,' Delau testified about the 196 grams of cocaine in the bag, which is roughly a third of a pound.

It was a bag that had a street value of $12,000, the inquest heard.

Cpl. Brian Edmonds, who has worked in the Yukon for 10 years, said the bag was a fair amount to be found on one individual.

The cocaine was 87-per-cent pure. Sgt. Frank Campbell, head of the major crimes unit, said you don't usually find cocaine that pure in Whitehorse.

When Thalhofer stopped his car to see why Whitehouse had collapsed, he observed drool coming from the man's mouth.

Later, Const. James Giczi said he collected some clear, dry liquid off the back seat of Thalhofer's car.

Also later, when Const. Scott Wessell arrived at the side of the road, where Thalhofer had stopped to give Whitehouse CPR, he observed the situation to be pretty grim.

'I didn't see any movement and he (Whitehouse) looked pretty limp,' Wessell said about Whitehouse.

When McKay arrived on the scene, she said Whitehouse had no pulse and his pupils were fixed and dilated.

'It indicates that he's dead,' said McKay.

Whitehouse, who was five feet, nine inches tall and weighed 176 pounds, may have been suffering from cocaine psychosis. This is where a person under the influence of drugs may show bizarre behaviour, like talking to themselves, testified Stuart Huckin, a Vancouver-based toxicologist.

He said people suffering from cocaine psychosis may suffer paranoia around law enforcement.

They may also become sweaty and hot and remove clothing, said Huckin.

'Because of their paranoia, they will walk away from police and get excited if they are followed,' said Huckin. Police encounters involving people suffering from cocaine psychosis usually end in violence, with the drugged-up person demonstrating abnormal amounts of strength, he added.

That being said, Huckin didn't think that Whitehouse suffered from cocaine psychosis.

Huckin found no evidence of any extra adrenaline hormones in Whitehouse's body that are released when a person is frightened.

This suggested to Huckin that Whitehouse wasn't suffering from any sort of abnormal paranoia like someone might experience while suffering from cocaine psychosis.

'He might have been scared by police for some other reason,' said Whitehouse. 'I don't believe Mr. Whitehouse was showing this (cocaine psychosis).'

However, during the chase with police, Whitehouse removed his sweater and Thalhofer saw him making bizarre hand gestures while he was driving.

Some witnesses also said that Whitehouse was speaking incoherently after having been arrested.

One witness, nearby resident David Brown, a retired RCMP officer, saw Whitehouse crying after being arrested.

'He was quite tearful,' said Brown, who described Whitehouse as a 'youngish' aboriginal man.

'The tears were running down his cheeks . . . it seemed odd because there was no sign of a struggle.'

'(Whitehouse) seemed to be tense. He had a fixed, faraway stare. I couldn't understand what he was saying,' said Wessell, who arrived in time to help Thalhofer escort Whitehouse to a police vehicle.

Wessell had encountered Whitehouse three years earlier when Wessell had to restrain him at the Whitehorse General Hospital so a nurse could give him a sedative during another cocaine-related incident.

'He was not aggressive towards us, but there was that possibility,' said Wessell, adding the day Whitehouse died, he seemed a lot calmer then at the hospital.

Wessell observed Whitehouse to have a white froth on the edge of his lip.

Police later searched Whitehouse's vehicle. A number of receipts in his truck indicated that the former Yukoner, who was a resident of Victoria, had driven up to Whitehorse from Fort Nelson, B.C., the day before the incident.