WAS DRUG DEALER CONFUSED BY TURMOIL?

Commotion during raid detailed at inquest

A VICE squad member rang the front doorbell of Abe Hiebert's home as a
team of police officers was breaking in the back, raising the
possibility yesterday at an inquest into his death that he had lashed
out at officers in confusion.

Hiebert was shot and killed by a Winnipeg police officer on Dec. 16,
1997, after he hit police with pepper spray and a baseball bat as they
tried to break down his back door.

Det. Sgt. Brent Benoit said he rang the bell only once when he saw
Wilma Cameron, Hiebert's common-law wife, through the living room
window. Cameron was sitting on a couch.

Benoit was the first of eight officers in the raid to approach the
front door. The house has four separate doors at the front entrance.
The first of the four, the outside porch door, was locked, so officers
headed to the back of the house.

Benoit and Const. Douglas McMillan stayed to watch the front. Benoit
testified he heard Hiebert's dog barking from the rear of the house at
about the same time he rang the front bell.

Other testimony has indicated that much took place within a matter of
seconds. Officers tried to ram the rear door open. Hiebert sprayed
pepper spray and wielded the bat.

All the while, at least two officers yelled at Hiebert's barking dog
in an attempt to keep it at bay. As Winnipeg Police Association lawyer
Keith LaBossiere described it, there were "noises superimposed on
other noises."

"I rang the door bell once ... almost simultaneous to my ringing the
doorbell, I could hear noises from the side of the house. I could
hear, 'Winnipeg Police search warrant. Open the door, Abe.'"

Benoit said he then heard the ram, and heard glass breaking in the
door's window. About the same time, he heard Det. Sgt. Garry Schmidt
complaining his leg had been struck with the bat and heard Const.
Harold Schlamp complain he'd been pepper-sprayed.

Benoit then heard Det. Sgt. Leonard Small shout commands without
pausing: "Drop the bat. Drop the bat, Abe, or I'll shoot."

Benoit testified that "almost immediately" after he heard these
commands, he heard a shot.

Small fired one shot into Hiebert's upper chest. Hiebert, a
60-year-old, died shortly afterwards.

Earlier yesterday, McMillan testified he drank a rum and coke at the
party, but denied he felt compelled to drink.

"I didn't give it much thought. It's not something I dwelled on," he
said of his on-duty drink.