DAWSON BUST `CHAOTIC,' OFFICER TESTIFIES

Constable told motorist to ram car, court told

The drug bust that resulted in the shooting death of Hugh Dawson was so
chaotic that a police constable tried to get a woman in a Jeep to ram
Dawson's vehicle, court has been told.

Dawson, a suspected drug dealer, was trying to back out of a trap set up by
undercover officers' vehicles at the intersection of Kennedy and Danforth Rds.

Constable Lorelei McIvor, pistol in hand, ran to a nearby Jeep and told the
driver, Linda Muhvic, to ram into the back of Dawson's Honda Accord.

``I wanted her to drive into the back of the Honda and stop the Honda, stop
the threat that was still existing,'' McIvor testified.

``The situation was chaotic. Numerous things were going through my mind.
This guy was out of control and I thought one of my fellow officers was
going to get killed,'' she said.

McIvor was testifying at the manslaughter trial of Detective Constable Rick
Shank. The crown has alleged that in his role as road boss on March 30 of
last year, Shank was criminally negligent in handling the arrest of Dawson.

Just before the attempted Easter Sunday arrest, a police agent had
purchased $600 worth of crack cocaine, with marked money, from Dawson.

After the drug deal the officers tried to box in Dawson's vehicle with
unmarked police cars in front and on both sides of him.

The rear of the box was made up by a Markham family's car, which was
stopped behind Dawson at a red light.

By the time McIvor ran to the Jeep, Dawson had already backed into the hood
of the family's car and was pushing it backward. The Rousselle family
testified last week they thought they were in the middle of a gang fight.

When asked by defence attorney Peter West if she had ever been involved in
a situation where a civilian vehicle was used in an attempted arrest, she
responded, ``yes.''

``You try not to do it,'' she added.

``It changes by the minute. You just don't know what will happen,'' she
said of these types of drug busts.

She testified that by the time she was done talking to Muhvic, Dawson's car
had already stopped.

She used Muhvic's cellular phone to call 911 and then heard two gun shots,
she said.

Dawson was hit with nine bullets that left 11 wounds, the jury heard
earlier in the trial.

Dawson was unarmed, but the police officers believed he had a gun and were
acting accordingly, she testified.

The drug bust was set up that night after a police agent paged McIvor and
told her he had seen the handle of a gun underneath Dawson's seat earlier
that day when he purchased crack cocaine from him.

That same agent was used to buy drugs from Dawson that evening.

McIvor testified that this agent had been used before and was reliable. She
also testified that he had told her about Dawson having a gun before.

The trial continues before Mr. Justice Eugene Ewaschuk of Ontario Court,
general division.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski