POLICE PLANTED CRACK DURING RAID, DRUG DEALER'S 'BEAT-UP ARTIST' TELLS
HEARING

EDMONTON - A self-described "beat-up artist" working as hired muscle
for a drug dealer, testified on Tuesday at a Law Enforcement Review
Board appeal hearing concerning alleged police misconduct during a
1999 drug raid at a city residence.

Phillip John Malott, nicknamed Bigham, was the first witness to take
the stand at the hearing into whether police planted and then
discovered a piece of crack cocaine on a ledge above a door when they
raided two residences on the evening of Feb. 25, 1999.

Malott, who filed the appeal, told the board he was at the 10319 93rd
St. residence because drug dealer Lloyd Anthony Young hired him for
$3,000 to "severely" beat two men who had hassled drug customers and
caused other problems at the house.

"I'm not afraid to admit I'm a beat-up artist doing body work,"
54-year-old Malott told the board Tuesday. He said "body work" means
breaking bones and other types of assault.

But Malott said he was not involved in Young's drug business and had
agreed with Young there would be no drug deals while Malott was at the
residence waiting for the two men to show up.

"I was there to assault somebody, not help anybody sell anything," he
said.

Malott said he had a baseball bat with which he planned to beat the
two men when they came to the house. He said Young had paid him $1,500
and would pay him the other half once he assaulted the men. The police
raid happened before he could carry out the assault, he said.

Malott and two men were arrested at the fortified crackhouse and
charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of
trafficking and possession of the proceeds of trafficking. A piece of
crack cocaine wrapped in green tin foil was allegedly discovered on a
ledge above the residence's back door.

The door led to a porch where drug deals took place, Malott
said.

The case went to trial on Nov. 27, 2000, but charges against all three
men were withdrawn on Dec. 6 after a police video entered as evidence
contradicted police photos taken at the house.

The photos, taken after the raid, showed the piece of foil-wrapped
crack cocaine on the ledge above the door. But that piece of crack was
not visible on the same ledge in the video filmed during the raid by
the police tactical unit for training purposes.

Malott and Edmonton lawyer Charles Davison, who represented one of the
other men, filed a complaint to then police chief Bob

Wasylyshen in 2001 after the criminal charges were dropped. Wasylyshen
dismissed the complaint in 2003. Malott then filed an appeal to the
board.

He told the board he did not see the foil-wrapped piece of crack on
the ledge. He could see the top of the ledge because he was close to
the door and is six feet, four inches tall.

"It wasn't there," Malott said.

Detective Daryl Mahoney testified on Tuesday that he got to know
Malott prior to the drug raid during his work on 118th Avenue. Malott
worked as a bouncer at a bar known as a haven for drug dealers, he
said.

Mahoney said he met Malott at the police station following his arrest.
Mahoney said

Malott told him he was not involved in the drug business.

Malott was one of 26 people arrested by police in the summer of 2000
following a year-long investigation into a cocaine ring in Edmonton.
Malott pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in March 2002
and was sentenced to three years in jail. Currently on parole, Malott
flew in from Hamilton, Ont., to testify.

The Law Enforcement Review Board is an independent provincial body
which reviews public complaints about police misconduct and police
officer appeals on disciplinary action. If

Malott wins the appeal, charges could be laid against officers
involved in the incident. The officers would then face a police
disciplinary hearing, the results of which Malott could also appeal.

The hearing continues today.