MOM STILL BLAMES COPS

Son Died In 1999 Police Raid On Alleged Drug Gang

The crumbling case against an alleged drug gang is shocking, says the city
mom of a man who died in the sweeping raids that landed the so-called Trang
gang in custody.

"I'm appalled, I'm totally appalled," Allie Miller told The Sun yesterday.

Her son, 21-year-old Adam Miller, died during one of the 1999 police raids.
Adam and 15-year-old Huu Pham of Calgary died after falling from a
fourth-floor Edmonton apartment balcony. Both suffered multiple injuries in
the fall and later died in hospital.

Miller said she still holds the police "100%" responsible for her boy's death.

"Unless I hear different, that's never going to change," she said. "If
you're dealing with people who are dangerous, in a fourth-floor building,
you would think they wouldn't want any of them to get away and they would
take protective measures."

On Monday, citing unreasonable delay and evidence disclosure failures, a
judge in the massive drug gang trial tossed out charges against 11 alleged
gang members.

The Court of Queen's Bench justice criticized the federal Crown and police
on the disclosure fiasco, which included the late discovery of 36 boxes of
evidence at Edmonton RCMP headquarters and two boxes in a city cop's basement.

The 11 accused were originally part of 36 accused facing trial in Edmonton.
In March 2001, the Crown streamlined its case by splitting it into two trials.

One of the men arrested at the same apartment where Adam and Pham died,
Thinh Duc Vu, alleges they were knocked off the balcony by a tear gas
canister fired by police.

A fatality inquiry was called, but has been postponed until Dec. 8 to allow
all the trials stemming from the raids to be completed.