Robert Dziekanski Taser incident Wikipedia
Robert Dziekanski Taser incident
Location Vancouver International Airport,
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
Robert Dziekanski (April 15, 1967–October 14, 2007; was a Polish immigrant to Canada who died on October 14, 2007 after being tasered five times by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at Vancouver International Airport.
Full details of the incident came to light because it was filmed by a member of the public, Paul Pritchard. The police initially took possession of the video, refusing to return it to Pritchard. Pritchard went to court to obtain it, then released it to the press.
As of May 2009, the Braidwood Inquiry is underway, with public questioning and testimony of individuals involved in the incident.
On June 20, 2009, the proceedings were suspended until September, after it was discovered that an e-mail contained information indicating that the RCMP officers had already determined that they would use tasers even before encountering Dziekanski. This contradicts the officers' testimony that they only decided upon the use of tasers at the last minute.
Robert Dziekanski was a construction worker by trade, but had also worked as a miner. He was in the process of emigrating from Gliwice, Poland to live with his mother, Zofia Cisowski, in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Dziekanski's flight was two hours late, and arrived at about 3:15 pm on October 13, 2007. According to official sources, Dziekanski required language support to complete initial customs formalities. After he completed initial immigration processing, his whereabouts between 4:00 p.m. and about 10:45 p.m. remain unclear, though at various points he was seen around the baggage carrousels. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, had told him to wait for her at the baggage claim area but it was a secured area where she was not allowed to enter. At 10:45 p.m., when he attempted to leave the Customs hall, he was directed again to secondary immigration as his visa had not yet been processed. Dziekanski's immigration procedures were completed at about 12:15 a.m. on October 14th.
After 30 minutes in an immigration waiting area, he was taken to the international arrivals reception area. Cisowski had been making enquiries of airport staff since the early afternoon, but could not provide information about the airline, flight number or scheduled arrival time. Airport staff told her Dziekanski was not at the airport and she had returned to Kamloops at about 10 p.m., believing her son had missed his flight.
When Dziekanski left the Customs hall, he became visibly agitated. Bystanders and airport security guards were unable to communicate with him because he did not speak English and they did not use the airport's telephone translation service.He used chairs to prop open the one-way doors between a Customs clearing area and a public lounge and at one point threw a computer and a small table to the floor before the police arrived.
Four RCMP officers, Constables Gerry Rundel, Bill Bently, Kwesi Millington, and supervisor Corporal Benjamin Robinson, arrived and entered the Customs room where Dziekanski was pacing about. They apparently directed him to stand near a counter, to which Dziekanski complied but picked up a stapler sometime after being told to place his hands on a counter. Shortly thereafter, about 25 seconds after arriving at the scene, Corporal Robinson ordered the Taser to be used. Constable Millington tasered Dziekanski. He began to convulse and was tasered several more times after falling to the ground, where the four officers pinned, handcuffed and continued to taser him. One eyewitness, who recorded the incident on her cellphone, told CBC News that Dziekanski had been tasered four times. "The third and fourth ones were at the same time" delivered by the officers at Dziekanski's right and left, just before Dziekanski fell. According to B.C. Crown counsel spokesman Stan Lowe, Dziekanski was tasered a total of five times. Constable Millington testified that he deployed the Taser four times, but he believed that in some of those instances the probes may not have contacted Dziekanski's body. Dziekanski writhed and screamed before he stopped moving. Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson stated he then checked for a pulse, but his heart had stopped. Testimony from the other RCMP officers state they never saw anyone including Robinson check for a pulse. Dziekanski did not receive CPR until paramedics arrived on the scene approximately 15 minutes later. They were unable to revive him and pronounced him dead at the scene.
October 14, 2007: Screenshot from video taken by Paul Pritchard showing Robert Dziekanski shortly after being tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver airport.The entire event was recorded by Paul Pritchard, another traveler who was at the airport. Pritchard handed his camera and the video to police who told him that they would return the video within 48 hours. Instead, they returned the camera with a new memory card and kept the original with the video, stating that they would not release it in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation. They claimed that witness statements would be tainted if they viewed the video before being interviewed by police. Pritchard went to court to obtain the video, which he then released to the media on November 14, 2007; three television outlets paid fees to Pritchard for the right to broadcast the video. After the video was made available, an RCMP spokesperson cautioned the public to reserve judgment against the police because the video represents "just one piece of evidence, one person's view."
Before the video was released to the public, the RCMP repeatedly claimed that only three officers were at the scene. There were actually four officers at the scene. The RCMP also said that they did not use pepper spray because of the risk it would have posed to bystanders. The video, however, suggests the incident occurred in an area separated from bystanders by a glass wall. An RCMP spokesperson also stated that batons were not used, which was also contradicted by the video.
The RCMP officers involved in the Dziekanski death have been widely criticized for their handling of the incident. A retired Vancouver Police superintendent commented after viewing the video that Dziekanski did not appear to be making "any threatening gestures" towards the police and he did not see why it became a police incident. Particularly contentious is that the RCMP officers made no attempt to defuse or gain control of the situation before resorting to the Taser.
It is noteworthy that in August 2007, before Dziekanski's death, RCMP changed its protocol on Taser use, suggesting that multiple Taser shocks may be recommendable under certain circumstances.
The RCMP's handling of the incident has led to charges that they misrepresented the facts in order to portray the RCMP in a favourable light. The BC Civil Liberties Association has filed a complaint arguing that the evidence shows that the Taser was not used as a last resort and condemning the RCMP for its attempt to suppress the video and for casting aspersions on the character of Dziekanski. An RCMP spokesman, Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, was heavily criticized for providing a false version of events prior to the public release of the video. He stated that Dziekanski "continued to throw things around and yell and scream", after the arrival of the police officers, which was later revealed by the video to be false.
On December 12, 2008, the Criminal Justice Branch of British Columbia issued a statement, finding that although the RCMP officers' efforts to restrain Dziekanski were a contributing cause of his death, the force they used to subdue and restrain him was reasonable and necessary in all the circumstances; thus there would not be a substantial likelihood of conviction of the officers in connection with the incident and accordingly criminal charges were not approved. Three of the officers remain on duty elsewhere in Canada, while the supervisor, Corporal Benjamin Monty Robinson, is suspended with pay awaiting trial on charges of impaired driving causing death which resulted in the death of a 21-year old Vancouver man.
The officers have been subject to public criticism, both in the media and in formal proceedings before the Braidwood Commission of Inquiry. The officers were served notices of misconduct by the commission forewarning them the commissioner may include a finding of misconduct its final report. The warnings allege specific but overlapping grounds for each of the four. The collective allegations are that they failed to properly assess and respond to the circumstances in which they found Mr. Dziekanski. They repeatedly deployed the taser without justification and separately failed to adequately reassess the situation before further deploying it. The notices allege that afterwards they misrepresented facts in notes and statements, furthered the misrepresenting before the commission and provided further misleading information about other evidence before the commission. The four officers each sought judicial review to prevent the commission from making findings based on the notices. The petitions were dismissed but at least two officers are appealing.
The airport has also been criticized over the incident, particularly regarding security cameras that were not functioning, no translation services available for communicating with non-English speakers, the airport supervisor's failure to call the airport's own paramedics resulting in a twelve-minute wait for city paramedics to arrive, and for staff not helping Dziekanski's mother locate her son.
Airport security has been roundly criticized for not assisting Dziekanski during his many hours in the airport. Once he became agitated, security guards made little attempt to communicate with him or defuse the situation.
The Canada Border Services Agency reported it is reviewing its procedures at airports.
The incident has had significant coverage in Poland. The Polish consul general demanded answers about Dziekanski’s death. Canada's ambassador in Poland was invited to discuss the incident with officials in Warsaw, and one Polish official stated in the weeks after the incident that "we want the matter clarified and we want those guilty named and punished."
On December 12, 2008 the Polish embassy in Ottawa issued a statement stating that the Crown's decision not to charge the RCMP officers was "most disappointing".
In February 2009 it was reported that Canada had unilaterally suspended its mutual legal assistance treaty with Poland, thus blocking Poland's own investigation of the Dziekanski Taser incident.
Stéphane Dion, the former Liberal opposition leader, has asked the RCMP to review its Taser-use policies.
Canada's Public Safety Minister, Stockwell Day, said that he has asked the RCMP for a review on Taser use and that a report is being prepared, and pointed out that several investigations of the incident are already underway. Liberal Public Safety Critic Ujjal Dosanjh said that what was needed was an independent body to conduct a national and public review of the issue in order to develop national guidelines for Taser use by law enforcement officers. BC NDP Public Safety Critic and Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the incident, citing concerns of police investigating themselves.
The response from law enforcement has been mixed. Law enforcement professionals have featured prominently in the media criticizing the RCMP’s handling of the situation and the aftermath. The Ottawa Police, the first Ontario police force to adopt the Taser, held a Taser demonstration for reporters in order to illustrate their safety. Both the Toronto Police and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, meanwhile, have put large orders of Tasers for their front-line officers on hold.
The Braidwood Inquiry was established by the Provincial Government of British Columbia and headed by retired Court of Appeal of British Columbia and Court of Appeal of the Yukon Territory Justice The Honourable Thomas R. Braidwood, Q.C. to "inquire into and report on the use of conducted energy weapons" and to "inquire into and report on the death of Mr. Dziekanski." After two delays, the Braidwood Commission began proceedings on January 19, 2009, investigating the circumstances surrounding Dziekanski's death. Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said that the involved RCMP officers, Constable Millington, Constable Bentley, Constable Rundel, and Corporal Robinson, will be summoned to appear before the inquiry and could face findings of misconduct. Constable Gerry Rundel and Constable Bill Bentley testified at the Inquiry the week of February 23, 2009 and Constable Kwesi Millington testified there the following week. The fourth and commanding RCMP officer, Corporal Benjamin Robinson, testified beginning March 23, 2009.
en.wikipedia.org |
