ACCUSED DRUG DEALER SUES CITY, POLICE FOR SHOOTING
HIM

Police Said At The Time That A Man They Were Trying To Arrest Pulled A
Gun On Them

VANCOUVER - An accused drug dealer is suing the Vancouver police
department, the City of Vancouver and two officers, claiming excessive
force was used when he was shot three times while being arrested last
year.

John Richard Peters, who lives in Vancouver's West End, claims he was
arrested Jan. 24 last year and was shot by two officers in the right
shoulder, right arm and right hand.

He claims the wounds disabled him for life.

Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said Wednesday that police
automatically investigate all shootings involving officers.

"It's still under investigation," he said.

Peters filed his lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court, naming two Vancouver
police officers, Det.-Const. Peter Sadler and Det.-Const. Guiseppe
Sorbara, as defendants. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The legal action does not specify any circumstances to explain why he
was shot and arrested.

But a Vancouver police media release at the time stated that a
51-year-old man was shot after he was confronted by undercover
officers involved in a covert drug investigation in a parkade in the
900-block of Homer Street.

The officers were attempting to arrest the man when he pulled a gun
and refused repeated police demands to drop the weapon, the media
release said.

The man was taken to hospital with non-life threatening gunshot
wounds.

Several people were arrested when police later executed a warrant, the
release said. At the time, the man who was shot was described as
"known to police."

According to Vancouver provincial court records, Peters was charged
with drug trafficking on Jan. 25, 2006. He is due to appear next week
for a preliminary hearing.