Expert Witness In Toy-gun Case Has History Of Siding With Police

Called on to investigate the fatal shooting of a toy-gun carrying 13-year-old boy by a sheriff's deputy, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch chose a consultant she described as "an independent, outside expert on human performance in high-stress encounters, such as officer-involved shootings." Lewinski, whose website describes him as "one of the nation's foremost authorities on reaction times and shooting dynamics," divides his time between training police officers, researching their conduct and testifying on their behalf, usually to dispute accusations of wrongful shootings. Since 1990, he has testified for police in more than 75 cases in the United States and several in Canada and Great Britain. Had to keep firingIn the Sonoma County case, Deputy Erick Gelhaus shot Andy Lopez seven times on Oct.