Pubdate: Fri, 03 May 2002
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Rocco Parascandola

POLICE SOURCE: DEAD MAN HAD DRUG CONNECTION

The Brooklyn print-shop owner shot dead during a struggle with a federal 
agent in East Flatbush was identified as a member of a drug organization by 
an underling cooperating with investigators, a police source said yesterday.

Egbert Dewgard, 31, seemingly does not fit the profile of the drug suspect.

He owns a Flatbush Avenue print shop passed on to him by his father. He 
dotes on his three young children, his outraged family said. And it does 
not appear he has a criminal record.

Still, the police source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said 
Dewgard was part of a cocaine operation, one member of which had recently 
been arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration and had agreed to 
cooperate with investigators.

That led to a Wednesday morning transaction in which that member gave 
Dewgard a bag containing three kilos of cocaine, the source said. When DEA 
agents tried to arrest Dewgard at Utica Avenue and Farragut Road, he fled 
west on Farragut in his black Nissan Maxima, nearly striking a pedestrian 
before jumping a curb and running north on New York Avenue with the bag in 
his hand, authorities said.

At least one witness backs up that account, but at least two other 
witnesses said Dewgard was not carrying a bag.

Three-quarters of the way down the block, agents caught up to Dewgard, and 
one fired a fatal shot during a struggle, authorities said. Dewgard, who 
authorities said had tried to grab the agent's gun, was pronounced dead on 
arrival at Kings County Medical Center.

A bag with cocaine was found a few feet from the shooting, under an 
unmarked DEA sedan that had pulled up at the scene, police said.

Some witnesses said the agent clearly did not have to fire his gun and 
others said none of the agents at the scene tried to help Dewgard once he 
had been shot. One woman added that agents initially appeared to search the 
grounds of a nearby housing project as if they were looking for a mystery 
gunman who shot Dewgard.

The police said despite the varying witness accounts, all evidence points 
to Dewgard being part of a drug organization the DEA has been investigating.

"Was this guy a working guy?" the source asked. "Yeah. But this guy was 
pretty high up."

The DEA has refused to identify the agent who shot Dewgard or even basic 
information about his career. It also would not discuss the group sources 
said it has been investigating.

Dewgard, the source said, was shot in the lower right side. An autopsy is 
scheduled for today.
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