POLICE OFFICER WAS TOLD DETROIT MAN WAS DEAF BEFORE HE SHOT HIM, VICTIM'S
MOTHER TESTIFIES

DETROIT - The mother of a deaf man who was shot to death by a police
officer said she repeatedly told the officer her son could not hear
his commands to drop a garden rake.

Officer David Krupinski, 24, is charged with manslaughter in the death
of Errol Shaw, 39. Shaw approached police with the metal-pronged rake
last August after police were called about a family dispute.

Annie Shaw testified Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court that
Krupinski approached her son and said, "'Come here; come here,
buddy."' Annie Shaw said she loudly stated: "'Officer, he cannot
hear you; he is deaf."'

Annie Shaw, 74, said Krupinski went for his gun and said, "'Put that
down,"' and she yelled to him again that her son couldn't hear. As
she yelled for a third time, she said, Krupinski shot her son.

"I couldn't understand why," she said. Krupinski "was there for
three minutes. ... He shot him so fast."

Vernon Shaw, the victim's father, said officers never asked what the
problem was.

A defense attorney said Errol Shaw had loaded up on crack cocaine and
beer and then threatened Krupinski's partner with the rake.

Witnesses said they had seen Shaw throw beer on one of his teen-age
sons, stick a butcher knife into the ground and raise his fists to the
boy. Alcohol and cocaine were found in Shaw's body after his death.

Krupinski shot Errol Shaw twice, in the chest and abdomen. If
convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

The Detroit NAACP has called the shooting of Shaw "horrifying and
sickening." Shaw was black, the officer is white.