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This from a firearms list at Canadian Firearms
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 15:04:05 -0600
From: Joseph Lockhart
Subject: Winnipeg Police Shooting
Winnipeg Sun page 5 December 20 1997.
Review in accordance with Fatalities Enquiry Act: Chief
BRIAN SMILEY Police Reporter
The RCMP will review Tuesday's fatal shooting of a Winnipeg drug dealer by a city cop.
Winnipeg police Chief David Cassels said the external review is in accordance with the Fatalities Enquiry Act.
Cassels said yesterday he will examine the investigation reports from his department and forward all findings to the RCMP for further review.
"We will not rush this investigation," said Cassels.
"It's important to be thorough and package everything properly ... We want to get to the truth."
A mandatory inquest into the shooting of 60-year-old Abe Hiebert will also be held as required under the Fatalities Enquiry Act.
Hiebert was shot in his Dufferin Avenue home when eight members of the vice division attempted to carry out a search warrant.
The convicted drug dealer was shot in the chest as he was aiming to swing a baseball bat at an officer's head.
The day of the shooting many of the officers in the raid had attended a Christmas party where there was a cash bar. The officer who fired the fatal shot did not attend the party, hosted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada between 4 and 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Acting on legal advice from the Winnipeg Police Association, seven of the vice officers on the raid declined to submit to blood-alcohol test, said Insp. Keith McCaskill.
"Further to this, four were separately asked to submit a test and declined upon the advice of their counsel," said McCaskill.
The only officer to provide a blood sample was the 40-year-old detective sergeant who shot Hiebert. Results of that test have not yet been released.
"Right now we are 99 per cent sure what happened that night," said McCaskill.
"But we have to be 100 per cent sure. We can't afford to make any mistakes."
A few questions must be asked:
1) Why were the officers who declined the blood test, not asked to
provide a Breathalyzer test?
Is it because had they refused to supply one, that would have resulted
in criminal charges?
2) Of the seven officers alleged to have been drinking that night, how
many were driving city police vehicles possibly under the influence? (At
least 4?)
3) We have all been told that we can only use reasonable force to defend
our homes. If this police officer gets off without being charged with
excessive force, does that mean we can now use a gun to defend our homes
against a baseball bat-swinging intruder?
Just thought I'd ask...
(From the Winnipeg Free Press)
Thu, Feb 17, 2000
By John Lyons Staff Reporter
WINNIPEG POLICE vice division officers were copying child pornography, smoking cigars and writing slurs against senior officers -- but not drinking -- at their office the evening Abe Hiebert was fatally shot by police, an inquest heard yesterday.
Const. David Black, a 21-year-member of the Winnipeg Police Service, admitted to having two rum-and-cokes earlier at a party attended by almost the entire on-duty vice squad.
Black said he was "instructed" to go to the party by his sergeant. He denied anyone continued drinking at the vice office after the party.
In telephone transcripts with the police communications centre after the shooting on Dec. 16, 1997, Black is quoted as repeatedly saying "Get rid of this shit." Yesterday, Black said he was referring to a number of things amiss in the office, but not to alcohol.
Hiebert, 60, sold Talwin and Ritalin to hookers. Eight drug squad officers were attempting to execute a search warrant on his small north end house when Det. Sgt. Len Small shot and killed Hiebert, who had been trying to fight off officers with pepper spray and a baseball bat.
Black said that on Dec. 16, 1997, he wanted to clean up the office because he expected top brass and homicide investigators to visit.
"I didn't want them to see it was a pig sty and to be caught smoking," he said.
Only one week before, the head of vice, Insp. Gary Walker, had threatened that anyone caught smoking would be transferred out of vice. That wasn't enough to deter other vice officers from smoking on Dec. 16, Black testified.
"That night I know I was smoking a cigar. Other people were smoking cigarettes and cigars," he said.
Another officer was printing off copies of child porn from seized computer discs. Black said he was worried the laser copies might become lost if homicide investigators and senior officers visited, and he wanted them stored away.
Other laser copies included pictures of a naked, handcuffed 14-year-old sexual assault victim that Black himself printed. The copies were to be mailed to police in B.C., where the girl is believed to be from, he said.
Another concern was the blackboard, which contained a list of "tasteless jokes about shift members and senior officers," he said.
Black said he was reprimanded for drinking at the party and for other, unspecified infractions. He received a written notice and was transferred out of vice.
Inquest testimony also heard that Black, who was assigned to the morality section of vice, also drove several officers from the shooting scene to the Public Safety Building. He cautioned them of their right to counsel and told them not to discuss the matter in the van.
"They were all silent, very sullen," Black said.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
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This page created August 20, 2000
