POLICE SHOOTING TRIAL GOES TO JURORS

Officer Charged With Manslaughter

Twelve jurors have been told they must decide if the actions of a
Toronto undercover officer were justified or excessive when he shot
and killed a drug suspect during a chaotic police takedown.

In his closing remarks at the manslaughter trial of Constable Rick
Shank yesterday morning, Crown Attorney Sandy Tse said the officer
"used the maximum force available to him rather than the degree of
force necessary" when he shot and killed Hugh Dawson on Easter Sunday
of last year.

TRIED TO ESCAPE

But Shank's lawyer, Austin Cooper, countered in his address to the
jury that Dawson was "the author of his own misfortune" because he
fought so violently to escape police that they feared for their lives.

Dawson's attempts to get Shank's gun left his client no choice but to
shoot him or possibly be killed, Cooper said. Under the criminal code,
a police officer is allowed to use deadly force if he feels his life
is in imminent danger, court was told.

In his two-hour closing address, the crown questioned the credibility
of the crown's witnesses, who are Shank's fellow police officers.

"I submit to you the officers in the drug squad were pretty well
agreeing with any suggestions the defence made to them," said Tse.

He suggested that the jury should give no weight to the evidence of
Constable Rajeev Sukumaran, who testified Dawson fought violently with
them in the car and was shot only after going for both officers' guns.

He told the six men and six women on the jury that they should rely
more on the physical evidence, such as the bullet wounds, which he
described as "silent witnesses" to what happened in the confines of
Dawson's car.

DELIBERATION AIDS

At the end of his submissions, Tse assigned each juror a point to
remember about the crown's case against Shank to help them in their
deliberations, which begin Tuesday.

Cooper spent all yesterday afternoon tearing apart the crown's case,
telling the jurors they should accept Sukumaran's version of events
because it was crucial to understanding what went on inside the car.

Cooper said it was Sukumaran who first smashed Dawson's driver-side
window and jumped inside.

"That led Shank to do what he did" said Cooper, telling the jury his
client followed Sukumaran's lead and smashed the passenger side
window.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry