OFFICER DESCRIBES 'CHAOS' AS SUSPECT SHOT

Trial Told Driver Hit With Baton

The moments just before police fatally shot drug suspect Hugh Dawson
were "chaos," a Toronto undercover officer has testified.

Phil Chan, a detective constable for the past seven years, is the
second east-end drug squad officer to testify at the manslaughter
trial of Constable Richard Shank.

Shank has pleaded not guilty in the March 30, 1997, fatal shooting of
Dawson, a suspected crack cocaine dealer. Dawson was killed 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.

Chan yesterday described how he tried in vain to break the front
window of the suspect's Honda with his extendible baton as fellow
officer Rajeev Sukumaran dangled halfway into the car.

After whacking at the front window with little result, Chan moved to
the driver's side of the car, reached in, and started hitting Dawson
with his baton.

Chan, who described the scene as "chaos," said his attempts to
distract Dawson by hitting him didn't work.

"Dawson was looking straight forward. I was hitting Dawson in the face
and neck. There was no reaction."

Moments later, Chan said he heard a bang and stepped back from the
car.

That's when he heard two or three more shots and watched Shank, who
was also in the Honda, get out of the passenger's side of the car, the
trial was told.

Under questioning from Crown Attorney Sandy Tse, Chan said he never
heard anyone yell: "He's got my gun. He's got my gun," as another drug
squad officer had testified earlier.

He also told Tse that Dawson, who had his seatbelt on, was looking
forward when the first shot was fired.

In earlier testimony, Constable Al Flis testified he saw Dawson
struggling with both Shank and Sukumaran as they tried to arrest him.

Flis testified that Dawson was trying to escape police by reversing
out of a trap set up by the undercover officers at the intersection of
Kennedy and Danforth Rds.

The trial continues Tuesday.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry