UNDERCOVER COPS RATTLE COMMUTERS

Guns Drawn, They Surround Wrong Car

A serene drive home from the office turned into a surreal episode of Cops
for two Windsor co-workers and a three-year-old boy when they were
surrounded at gunpoint by four undercover Windsor police officers.

"I thought somebody was going to rob us or kill us. I couldn't move. I was
terrified," said Brenda Dean, 31.

"I thought it only happened on TV."

Dean had just dropped off co-worker Peter Sapusak at his home in the 1400
block of Henry Ford Centre Drive after their shift at Accucaps Industries
when the incident occurred. It was about 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 25. Sapusak
began climbing out of the vehicle when it was boxed in by two unmarked
vehicles. Four men, in plainclothes, charged out with their automatic
pistols drawn.

"I was terrified. I didn't know who the hell it was, if it was the mob or
(a motorcycle gang)," said Sapusak, 41. "I couldn't sleep for two nights
after that. I was tossing and turning."

Sapusak screamed three times that there was a child in the car and one of
the officers looked in the window and realized a mistake had been made.

"Police. Right kind of car, wrong people," was all that was said before the
guns were holstered and they drove off, claim Sapusak and Dean.

Sapusak phoned 911 in an attempt to determine who the gun-wielding men
might have been but received no answers.

Windsor police Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton confirmed Friday the men were
undercover officers with the force's drug unit. He said Dean's vehicle was
an exact match of a "target" vehicle sought by the squad as part of a
"high-level investigation."

Police have requested a description of Dean's vehicle not be published
because the suspect vehicle is still on the road.

Dean and Sapusak said the men never identified themselves as Windsor police
officers and offered no explanations or apologies for their actions.

"I understand they had a job to do and made a mistake but an explanation
would have been nice," Dean said.

The officers told McNorton an explanation and apology were offered at the
scene but that they had to rush back to their vehicles and continue their
search for the suspect vehicle.

Came from raid

The officers had just conducted a raid and were wearing blue jackets with
"Police" written on the front. The officer who spoke with Sapusak had his
jacket open but was wearing a badge around his neck, McNorton said.

Sapusak said one of the vehicles followed her for more than a block and
questioned why police didn't run her licence plate number and discover they
were tailing the wrong suspects.