The lawyer of a man Police shot with rubber bullets has expressed concern that an officer from Canada, where guns are commonplace, is carrying out the internal inquiry into the incident.

Patrick Doherty, who represents Stephen Proctor, questioned why a Police officer was looking into the first incident in the Island of officers shooting a suspect with rubber bullets.

He said on Friday he hoped the final report from an officer in the Toronto Metropolitan Police Force will not merely whitewash the officers involved in the incident.

Mr. Doherty spoke to The Royal Gazette after Proctor, 52, was fined $800 and given a three-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for assaulting a Police officer in the incident and behaving in a threatening manner.

Mr. Doherty reiterated his disappointment that Police had chosen to have an internal inquiry into the incident in January at Rockywold Drive, Sandys, rather than allow public input.

"They have retained someone from a culture (Canada) where firearms are carried by every Police officer and an environment where officers can use deadly force, and that's not the Bermuda experience,'' he said.

Lawyer concerned over inquiry "He may be very fair, but I find it curious they have taken someone from that context.

"Why is it necessary to have a Police officer, rather than someone who can clearly be seen as impartial? "Why does it have to be a Police officer from North America or Canada where firearms are carried by virtually every Police officer and seen as an essential part of policing? "I would be disappointed if the end result of this internal inquiry was a self-serving, exculpatory report without the Police taking a serious look at how and why they used such excessive and extraordinary force.'' Proctor pleaded guilty in March to assaulting Sgt. Simon Groves by throwing kerosene over him during a violent standoff at his mother's home.

Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith ordered an internal inquiry into the incident. Police have since promised the results will be made public.

Acting Senior Magistrate Edward King made no order for Proctor, who has been diagnosed as a manic depressive, to undergo psychiatric treatment.

At a hearing in March, then Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner detained Proctor in custody while psychiatric reports were prepared to commit him to St. Brendan's Hospital.

But Mr. King said new psychiatric reports had not been completed -- as the court required -- and that what was submitted at this hearing were copies of earlier reports.