MAN SHOT TO DEATH BY FEDS NO DEALER, SAY KIN AND PALS

Maryanne Dewgard knelt in a Brooklyn gutter yesterday and mourned the loss
of her only son, a drug suspect who was shot in the back and killed by
federal agents a day earlier.

Wiping up dried drops of blood, the grieving mother led a chorus of
relatives and friends who insisted Egbert (Bert Junior) Dewgard was an
upstanding business owner who had nothing to do with drugs.

"That's my son's blood, Lord have mercy," Maryanne Dewgard wailed on the
Flatbush corner where her son died. "They shot him to kill him."

Police painted a far different picture of Dewgard, who they say was shot
when he tried to grab a federal agent's gun after a wild car chase.

Cops called him a high-ranking member of a Flatbush drug crew, and said
they found a package containing 3 kilos of cocaine -- with a street value
of $250,000 -- underneath his car.

An autopsy was delayed until today by the family's request, and an
independent doctor will observe the procedure. Dewgard's sister denounced
the drug allegations against her brother, branding them part of a police
coverup.

"Kingpins don't work in a print shop 16 hours a day," said Diahnn Dewgard,
32, whose parents emigrated from the Central American nation of Belize. "He
was an upright guy, kind and generous."

On the Flatbush block where Dewgard ran his B&A Printing copy shop, the
slain man was remembered as a pillar of the community.

Grocer Stella Maris recalled that Dewgard would provide free copies to
other business owners, and cleared trash and snow from the sidewalk.

Chinese restaurant owner Chan Choi said he knew Dewgard since he was a
teenager, when Dewgard took over the store from his father. Choi, who
speaks halting English, said Dewgard regularly helped him make calls for
deliveries and read official letters.

"I'm so upset they killed Bert Junior," said Choi, 42. "He didn't do drugs.
No way. It's all lies."

Jim Hall, a 41-year-old construction worker who lives in the neighborhood,
said he often saw Dewgard working till midnight. "When you say drugs, I
can't believe it," Hall said.