Mainstream media coverage of Ts'peten trial - January 7 / 97

UP IN SMOKE AND ALL ON VIDEO

The Province
Friday, January 31, 1997
by Clare Ogilvie, Staff Reporter

For the first time, jurors in the Gustafsen Lake trial are seeing what the police did and what they said.

A defence video screened yesterday shows an emergency response team takedown of a red pickup truck as it left the camp near 100 Mile House.

Police monitored the truck for almost 30 minutes before they blew it up. The two occupants escaped uninjured, but the cops shot and killed a dog.

Later, the video shows a green police van carrying native negotiators to the camp. One was so scared he had a heart attack.

The video also shows an attempt to shoot a camp member by a cop in a plane.

The officer asks his command post: "Can we get authority from Zulu to make his stay unpleasant?"

The officer was given permission to shoot the armed man. He missed.

The video later reveals the man was in a zone where police had agreed not to shoot.

The standoff, which began Aug. 19, 1995, ended peacefully on Sept. 17 with the arrest of 18 people now on trial on charges ranging from attempted murder to mischief.

Video evidence will continue on Monday.

** The Province can be reached at: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca **