Anthony Heffernan's family 'outraged' to learn use of force expert connected to controversial institute

The use of force expert whose opinion heavily contributedto the decision not to lay charges against a Calgary police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man is connected to an institute run by a controversialpolice psychologist who has only ever testified in support of officers.

"We are very outraged," said Pat Heffernan. "That's very biased."

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Chris Lawrence, who has been qualified as an expert in police use of force techniques and teaches at the Ontario Police Collegeand the Force Science Institute,prepared a report for the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) regarding AnthonyHeffernan's2015 death.

In its press release earlier this week,ACPSsaid Lawrence's report weighed heavily in its decision not to lay chargesagainst the officer who shot AnthonyHeffernan.

"I believe I was objective," Lawrence told CBC News.

Heffernan, 27, was shot during a confrontation on March 16, 2015.Police went to the Super 8 motelonBarlowTrail to investigate reports that a guest, who was due to check out, was behaving strangely and not leaving his room.

High on cocaine at the time, Heffernan was agitated and holding a syringewhen officers arrived,according to ASIRT.

Police witnesses told investigators they feared the syringe would put them at risk of exposure to a blood-borne infection. It turned out the insulin syringe he was holding had no needle tip.

The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was no reasonable likelihood of convictingthe officer who shot at Heffernan six times, striking him four times.

The entire exchange in the motel room lasted 72 seconds.

Sammy Yatim expert requested

ASIRT did recommend charges when it handed the case over to the Crown, according to director Susan Hughson.

The Heffernan family and their lawyer say they were toldthe charges recommended were second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminal negligence causing death.

But after reviewing ASIRT's findings, the Crown asked the investigative body to obtain a use of force expert to provide an opinion on whether the deadly shooting was justified.

The family asked ASIRT to use Robert Warshaw, who testified at the Sammy Yatim case.

Warshaw has testified in hundreds of cases andserved as chief of police in Rochester, N.Y., and Statesville, N.C.

He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as associate director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1998 andhelped to found a group thatadvises police departments on issues like race relations and the excessive use of force.

"We had asked they use Warshaw," said Pat Heffernan. "At that time, [Hughson]said they would pick the expert."

Pat Heffernansays he then asked Hughson to use two experts but was told that wasn't an option.

"[Warshaw] is exactly the type of expert you're looking for; he has been appointed by government and police services to monitor use of force so he is extremely well qualified," said Heffernan family lawyer Tom Engel.

"I have no idea how Ms. Hughson would justify not consulting with him."

But Engelsays Hughson told the family that she didn't want to use Warshaw because "he said some unreasonable things in [the Sammy Yatim] case."

ASIRT refuses to release report

Instead, Chris Lawrence was contacted and asked to provide a report that, in the end, weighed heavily in the Crown's decision not to lay charges against the officer.

"The report was obtained and found that the subject officer's response could be justified," wrote the ACPS in a press release.

"The Crown would be unable to prove that the subject officer did not have reasonable grounds for believing that the force used was necessary."

CBC Newstried to obtain a copy of Lawrence's report but ASIRT says it "will not release investigative materials."

In an online biography, Lawrence whose primary employer is the Ontario Police Collegeis listed as the technical advisor to the Force Science Research Centre. The centre describes him as "a faculty member for the Force Science certification course."

The centre's director,Bill Lewinski, is a controversial American-based "police psychologist" who has testified in more than 70 cases in the U.S. as well as several cases in Alberta.

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'The alarm bells went off'

Lewinski's critics say he is a "professional witness" who provides testimony in support of officers accused of wrongful shootings.

In 2012, aftera CBCVancouver investigation raised questions about Lewinski's credentials and the objectivity of his expert testimony, theB.C. Police Complaints commission said it would never again useLewinskias an expert.

EngelsaysLewinskihas only ever testified in support of police.

"The alarm bells went off," said Engel. "This is Bill Lewinski's creation, this Force Science Institute, and he has been discredited in Canada and in the United States and he is nothing more than a hired gun for the police.

"As soon as I heard that this guy was a disciple of Lewinski and worked at that Force Science Institute, I have some grave concerns about how it came to be that ASIRT selected this person to be the expert.Because I would say,if he's anything like Lewinski, he's biased and he's a hired gun."

That allegation is strongly contested by Lawrence.

"When I've seen something that I believe to be unlawful, I've said so," said Lawrence.

He says of the approximate 60 times he hasgiven evidence, he estimates three were against the officer in question andthere are numerous times he was rejected as an expert because he did not provide the desired opinion.

Lawrence says he has also assisted in a successful prosecution against a police officer.

And unlike Lewinski, whose 2008 fee schedule showed he charged $475 an hour to write reports, Lawrence says he was not paid for his report andthe work he did was independent of both the Ontario Police College and the Force Science Institute.

'It looks like you're expert shopping'

It appears, according to Engel, that ASIRT and the Crown went looking for a way to justify the officer's actions.

"That's how something like this looks," said Engel. "When you reject a highly-qualified expert, you don't even go to him ... and then you go to a guy who is at this Force Science Institute.It looks like you're expert shopping."

The Heffernans agree.

"[We]feel they went out of their way to clear officer," said Pat Heffernan.

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The plan is to write letters to the Crown, ASIRT and Calgary's chief of police, says Engel.

"They need to have another look at this and they need to get a credible expert to provide an opinion," said Engel. "It is completely unacceptable that they would use somebody like this."

The matter is far from concluded. An internal CPS investigation into the officer's actions is underway and he could still be prosecuted under the Police Act.

As with all officer-involved shootings, there will be a fatality inquiry. And Engelhas indicated the Heffernans plan to sue CPS and the officers who responded to the motel room.

ASIRTwould notcomment on thedecision to select Lawrence as its expert.