Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 2003
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Shane Holladay

COP DETAILS FLASH-BANG USE IN RAID, INQUIRY HEARS

The cop who lobbed a flash-bang during a police raid in which two men 
plunged to their deaths was told to throw the device if the balcony was 
empty, a fatality inquiry heard yesterday.

Adam Miller, 21, and Huu Pham, 15, plunged from a fourth-floor balcony 
during a raid at 12925 65 St. on Sept. 24, 1999. The raid was part of an 
operation targeting an alleged major drug gang.

Const. Ken Brander, team leader of the tactical unit which conducted the 
raid, told the fatality inquiry he gave an officer instructions about 
lobbing the device.

"If it's an empty balcony when he goes to deploy it, I told him to deploy 
it at the level of the railing," said Brander. "I said, hopefully it would 
go off in the general area of the railing. If it goes off on the balcony, 
that's no problem either. If the balcony is clear and he can see it."

The inquiry heard two flash-bang devices were detonated during the raid. 
Tom Engel, the lawyer for the Miller family, contends a flash-bang played a 
role in the fatal plunge of the two young men. Intelligence given to the 
tactical unit about the suite was abundant, Brander said, and included a 
"likelihood" there would be guns inside.

Officers were told it was "a place to flop for the night, a place to store 
your drugs or to store your weapons," he said. And given information that 
gang members were there, Brander said, this would have led the officers to 
"step up" their tactics.

He also dismissed claims by three independent witnesses who said they saw a 
helicopter present, saying he was on the balcony as it concluded and saw no 
such aircraft. 
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MAP posted-by: Perry Stripling