POLICE, REGION FACE $4-M SUIT IN ARRESTS

On a frigid, late afternoon last February, Louis Poitras and Allen Campbell
of Sudbury exited the Trans-Canada Highway at Coniston and met a wall of
police cruisers and a contingent of 18 armed police officers.

Sudbury Regional Police officers Scott Greenough and Dana Kiviaho opened
fire on the two men, sending seven bullets through the vehicle and wounding
Campbell.

The men were suspected of drug trafficking and weapons possession. A
quantity of cocaine was found in the vehicle, but no weapons. The Special
Investigations Unit cleared the police service of any wrongdoing in the
case, but a $4-million civil lawsuit filed by Poitras, Campbell, Poitras'
common-law wife, Laura Lunn, and Poitras' parents, Jacqueline and Maurice
Poitras, claims that undue force was used against the men.

Named in the suit are the police officers, Sudbury Regional Police Service
and the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. Lawyer Donald Plaunt,
representing the plaintiffs, said the police action was inappropriate.
Unnecessary force was used in the "high-risk takedown," he said.

"I'm not prone to throwing this kind of paper around casually," said
Plaunt, when asked if the plaintiffs have a sound case. "I have a very
negative view of the events leading up to, and including, the actual
takedown itself. There is no legitimate explanation for what happened," he
said.

The statement of claim alleges that the police officers intended to kill or
seriously wound the two men, stating that officers fired directly at
Poitras and Campbell through the windshield and driver's side window.

The claim also states that Kiviaho and Greenough had no legitimate
justification in law for the discharge of their lethal and dangerous weapons.