Pubdate: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2008 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Gordon Sinclair Jr. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) TOUGH TO ACCEPT DRUG DEALER PURPOSELY SHOT POLICE STUPID, YES, BUT GUILTY?... Daniell Anderson got what I expected he'd get Wednesday. But did he get what he deserved? Anderson, a young Fort Rouge drug dealer -- whose reputation for selling pot was known at least as far away as Tuxedo -- was found guilty of attempting to murder a Winnipeg police officer and attempting to wound another. This by firing blindly through a bathroom door after drug-raiding police burst into the family home two years ago. Police testified they loudly identified themselves as they entered the house. Anderson claimed he didn't hear them, that he thought armed intruders were invading the home. Hence, his taking refuge behind a bathroom door with a sawed-off shotgun. I didn't hear the evidence that the judge did, so I hesitate to question his guilty verdict. But common sense would suggest that a drug dealer hiding in a bathroom would have to be an imbecile to open fire on a team of armed police officers. Daniell Anderson was stupid. You'd have to be involved in something where you felt you needed a sawed-off shotgun to protect yourself in your own home. But an imbecile? I don't buy it. Nor do I buy that he purposely fired at Winnipeg police officers. But the judge did, and that's all that matters. Well, not quite all. Anderson's life will never be the same. More importantly, neither will the lives of the police officers who were shot. Or who saw their colleagues shot. My condolences to all involved. - --- MAP posted-by: Doug