DRUG SUSPECT KILLED BY COP

Brooklyn Man Shot in Battle Over Fed's Gun

A cocaine suspect was fatally shot in the back by an undercover federal
drug agent in Brooklyn yesterday during a struggle over the lawman's gun,
authorities said.

The shooting of Egbert Dewgard, which sparked anger from his family and
some people in his Flatbush neighborhood, capped a chase in which the
suspect rammed two police cars, authorities said.

Flatbush residents curse at the police after a cocaine suspect was shot by
a cop yesterday.

The incident unfolded after a joint task force, comprising federal Drug
Enforcement Administration agents and NYPD narcotics detectives, got a tip
that a large shipment of drugs was to be dropped off on a Flatbush corner
yesterday morning.

The dropoff spot, near Foster Ave. and New York Ave., was under
surveillance shortly before 11 a.m. when cops watched a man put a package
into a black Nissan driven by Dewgard, investigators said.

The cops began to follow Dewgard. But when they turned on their lights and
sirens and tried to pull him over, Dewgard resisted, authorities said.

"Dewgard refused to pull over and rammed the police car in front of him,
then proceeded to back up and strike the police vehicle behind him,"
Special Agent Elizabeth Jordan, DEA spokeswoman.

Dewgard managed to drive a few blocks, almost running over a mother with
her child, Jordan said. He slammed into a utility pole at Farragut Road and
New York Ave. and fled on foot, she said.

Witnesses told investigators that agents and cops chasing him ordered
Dewgard to stop, yelling, "Police, police!" After the suspect bolted about
a block, one agent caught up and tackled him. As he tried to cuff the
suspect, there was a struggle over the agent's gun, investigators said.

"A violent struggle ensued during which time the agent's weapon
discharged," Jordan said.

Dewgard was shot once above the buttocks with a .40-caliber service
revolver and was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital. An
autopsy will be performed today. The undercover agent's name was not released.

Three kilos of cocaine with a street value of $250,000 was found under
Dewgard's car after the shooting, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Kelly said no weapon was recovered from the suspect.

Small Family Business

Yesterday, Dewgard's furious and griefstricken family described him as a
hardworking father of three who ran a small family business, B&A Printing.

"How do you shoot a man in the back and not tell his family anything?" said
the dead man's cousin, Carla Dewgard. "It's ridiculous. It's outrageous. He
had no weapon. It's unjust, and justice needs to prevail."

Yesterday, neighbors gathered at the shooting spot in the Vanderveer Houses
and lit candles next to dried splotches of blood on the curb. A FDNY fire
truck that came to clean the bloodstains off the street was waved away by
the angry crowd.