WITNESS AT MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL ADMITS SUPPORTING ACCUSED

Officer says wearing button had no effect on his testimony

A Toronto constable who witnessed the fatal shooting of a drug suspect has
admitted wearing a button supporting Constable Rick Shank just weeks before
he was to give testimony at the officer's manslaughter trial.

But Constable Al Flis testified yesterday his support of Shank hasn't
affected his ability to tell the truth about what happened the night Hugh
Dawson was killed.

"I support Constable Shank," Flis testified, but said this was due to the
stress Shank and his family endured since the March 30, 1997, incident.

Flis was part of a seven-member takedown team that tried to arrest Dawson
on Easter Sunday last year. Dawson was hit by nine bullets after struggling
inside his Honda Accord with Shank and Constable Rajeev Sukumaran.

During questioning by Crown Attorney Sandy Tse, Flis admitted he wore a
button saying "I support Badge #6045" (Shank's number) during an interview
with the crown last month, just before the trial got under way.

Later, under cross-examination by defence lawyer Peter West, Flis was asked
if wearing the button meant he hadn't told the truth in his testimony.

"The fact that you support him (Shank) ... you're not going to lie to the
ladies and gentlemen of the jury?" West asked.

"Absolutely not," replied Flis.

On Tuesday, Flis testified he hit Dawson in the head three to four times
with the muzzle of his shotgun.

Yesterday, Flis told court that after the shooting he cleaned blood off the
muzzle of the gun when he returned to the east-end drug squad office. But
Flis maintained it was his blood from a hand injury he received trying to
break the windows of Dawson's car.

The nine-year police veteran has testified Dawson was trying to reverse out
of a trap set by undercover officers, leaving them no choice but to
surround and enter his car at the intersection of Kennedy and Danforth Rds.

Yesterday, Flis testified it was the first time in his experience that a
suspect tried to flee during a takedown.

Late yesterday, Sergeant Thomas Sharkey, an expert in high-risk takedowns
and police use of force, testified that in 1995 he taught Shank and other
drug squad officers about the proper way to make gunpoint arrests of
suspects in vehicles.

"Every situation is going to be different ... there is no golden formula,"
Sharkey said.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski