OFFICER'S STATEMENTS CONFLICT, TRIAL TOLD

A Toronto drug squad officer involved in a fatal police takedown made
conflicting statements about the proper way to arrest a suspect who may be
armed, a trial has been told.

The officer, Constable Al Flis, testified yesterday that, once a suspect's
vehicle has been stopped, officers would normally take cover and call the
person out of his car.

That statement differed from one Flis made more than a year ago about the
proper procedure, court was later told.

His was testifying at the manslaughter trial of Constable Rick Shank. His
was involved in the March 30, 1997, takedown of drug suspect Hugh Dawson,
who was fatally shot after police rushed his car, broke the windows and
tried to arrest him inside his Honda Accord.

The crown has alleged that Shank, the "road boss" of the drug squad who gave
the order to move in on Dawson's car, was criminally negligent in the
handling of the arrest.

Flis, an east-end undercover officer, is the first of the seven-member drug
unit to testify about what happened the night Dawson was killed.

But his testimony yesterday that police seek cover during high-risk arrests
involving guns came under immediate attack by Crown Attorney Sandy Tse, who
said Flis told civilian investigators a different story 16 months ago.

Tse was granted the unusual right by Mr. Justice Eugene Ewaschuk of the
Ontario court, general division, to cross-examine his own witness about an
earlier inconsistent statement he made about police takedowns.

The crown showed the officer a statement he gave the provincial special
investigations unit in June, 1997, in which he stated that, in most
high-risk takedowns in which there might be a gun, police would rush the
vehicle and break the windows.

Under questioning by Tse, the nine-year veteran insisted that he was
mistaken in his comments to the SIU.

"No, I was mistaken as to some of the facts I provided in that statement,"
Flis testified.

"It's incorrect that we would rush a vehicle when there is a gun involved,"
he added.

His had testified that Dawson was trying to escape police by reversing out
of a trap set up by undercover police officers, leaving them no choice but
to surround his car and enter it as it sat at the intersection of Kennedy
and Danforth Rds.

The police had information that Dawson might have had a gun in the car, the
trial was told.

The trial continues.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst