Canadian stun gun death on video

Source: BBC News

Video footage has been released in Canada showing the last moments of an immigrant who died after being stunned with a Taser by police.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, of Pieszyce, Poland, was restrained by police after becoming agitated at Vancouver International Airport on 14 October.

Mr Dziekanski, who spoke no English, was declared dead at the scene by an emergency medical team.

The incident is being investigated by police, the airport and the coroner.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7095875.stm

it was horrible and totally unwarranted. :(

like any of those there were trying to revive him. Certainly they are trained in CPR. I would expect if I had done that to someone I would be giving him air and stimulating his heart.

this was just brutal ...that poor poor man...:cry:

tried to back out on their promise to return it to the owner. They said it would prejudice any future jury pool if there were to be a trial. The owner of the video hired a lawyer and the RCMP had to back down, thank goodness.

The video shows the RCMP lied their heads off about this incident, no wonder they didn't want this video to be shown to the public.

It was an appalling use of force and resulted in the murder of the man, imo.

... if the video had accidentally been lost in transit, or misplaced due to a clerical error. (ahem) (Just remembering some of the things that happened in previous years ... for example, the incidents that led to the RCMP Security Service being replaced by CSIS, following the McDonald Commission's recommendations.)

RCMP keep the video, had believed the lame reason ie tainting any future jury pool, then the RCMP's lies would have stood unchallenged regardless of what witnesses verbally described.

I give the young man great credit for fighting to get his property back AND making it public.

The actions of the RCMP in the Arar travesty, etc, are just one more example of a problem within the agency. Their "Dudley Do Good" reputation is long gone and their needs to be a thorough housecleaning as to policies, procedures AND investigations within and without, imo.

try this route if you're having a problem : go here http://news.bbc.co.uk/ click world then americas. Click on the issue at stake and hit the video button. I just played the beginning through realplayer - worked fine.

I hope the people who entertain thoughts about leaving the US to go to Canada will pick up on this. The country is simply to close to the U.S. for the stench of fascism not to permeate there as well.

i left the us for canada 2 years ago and am happy for it every single day.

it's not perfect, but one nice thing is that my tax dollars pay for everyone's health care -- not murdering innocent people around the world. and while i hate stephen harper, he remains further to the left than hillary and indeed, most deomcrats.

these officers should be charged with murder.

Those RCMP are brutal thugs.

Read the whole article. He's the one who got agitated. That probably did his heart rate no good. Also, he was throwing furniture. If an overweight person panics and starts running around throwing things, I'm sorry, disaster is right around the corner. Pushing and shoving against the police aggravates the problem. If he had been still and asked for help, probably this would have been a lot less serious.

If you resist the police, they're going to taser you. If you're fat, angry and starting a fight, you're causing your own trouble.

Another apologist for the police state. Gee, one man against how many police officers? Wonder what those poor police people did before the age of the taser?

There are other ways to restrain people outside of using a taser, which, as you know, delivers a shock to the body. Your response is an obscenity to the civil rights we have struggled to improve. Shame.

after an 8 hour flight. He couldn't speak English. He couldn't communicate with his mother who didn't know where he was.

After all that, he knocked over a fucking chair.

Police are supposed to use Tasers as an alternative to deadly force. That is, if a situation did not call for deadly force in the first place, they shouldn't be used.

He was not resisting. He was not threatening. He had no weapon. He was surrounded by four Mounties.

Bottom line: If he shouldn't have been shot, he shouldn't have been Tasered.

His (shenmue) choice of words alone tells me there can be no conversation.

(I see it's a female, not a male. Sorry.)

Tasers are alternatives to other non-lethal/less-than-lethal force like pepper spray and batons.

Then it should be reevaluated, because it looks like deadly force to me (some people die because of it).
Again and again, tasers are used for situations that would only require time, talk and maybe hands.
I'm sure we can waste a couple hours if it means not risking someone's life... The man was obviously no danger to anyone.

Rest in Peace.

in many cases. The police in many cities definitely need to update their training.

an English <-> Polish translator either.

The whole event was a really sad display of a perfectly lined up set of failures.

In the least, Mr. Dziekanski's death will bring focus and change things. I have no bones to make about cops in my experience, but once I heard of the video they were trying to keep confiscated and the false statements in the police report, I'm pretty much ready to see their asses thrown to the wolves under scrutiny of white hot lights and international media.

As a Vancouverite, truly ashamed of this and apologetic.

Also a Vancouverite here. There were many fuckups that happened, and I'd like to see an inquiry into this whole thing.

Why was the guy there so long before someone (CBSA, Airport Security, Police) offered some help?
Why did the police go to the tazer so quickly?
Why did the police not give him first aid when he was obviously in distress?
Why did the police appear to lie about the incident? This attempt to cover things up disturbs me most.

However, I don't like to see the entire RCMP painted with the same brush - it's a big organization, and implying that the behaviour in this incident is reflective of all RCMP officers is unfair. I know several RCMP officers, and they are intelligent, caring people.

The guy died, or didn't you read that part?

Tasers are not lethal weapons, as per their design, manufacture, testing, and marketing. However, since all humans are variable in their physiological capabilities, there are some instances where some end up dying. Please note that no one claims that tasers are "non-lethal"; because they can cause death in odd cases, they are "less than lethal". Guns and edged weapons are lethal weapons because they will kill in the majority of cases, unlike tasers.

That guy looks dead to me.

You are trying (poorly) to wrongly imply that because tasers can cause death in a small minority of uses then they are deadly weapons. I have shown you your mistake. If you are still confused, please ask specific questions.

I believe it's bad police training. If he was puffing and agitated, they may have been led by their training to believe he was high on PCP or something. Be that as it may, there's better ways than tazering.

he threw at them.

...wonder if his mom ever showed up?

Idiots.

It's torture, dummies. Look at the guy writhe like a chicken with its head cut off. Or more accurately, like a guy being electrocuted.

We can't identify torture anymore. That, my friends, is the most inditing fact of all. We no longer can recognize very obvious torture. We just make excuses.

So go ahead.

-Do you prefer billy clubs?
-It followed procedure.
-What if one of those chairs had hit an old lady?
-If he didn't want to get tased, he should have listened to the police.
-"Oh! The Sky is Falling! Fascist State! Wink! Wink! Nod! Nod! Go to the Conspiracy forum, tin-foiler!"

Without knowing what the RCMP procedures actually are, the video clearly shows that either the procedures were NOT followed or the procedures are grossly out of line with common sense.

didn't kill people. :sarcasm: The man was agitated by something. Why couldn't they find a translator to talk to this man?

The public obviously believed that he was a "russian".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeViFiODSYo

So, the police guys went in there to teach a "russian barbarian" maybe? Therefore and excessive use of force.
Why is it that any eastern-european language is always defaulted to Russian by Northern Americans? The assumption they drew it was no use talking to this man?


The Polish community is boiling now, screaming "Murder" and this is indeed plain and simple murder. I hope all those 4 jackals get some time in prison for what they did, because it was totally unwarranted.

People with homicidal behaviour should never join the police force in the first place.

jabbering "incoherently".

SO the Cannucks didn't speak Polish but he acted like he was a superman on crack.

Crack heads have been able to withstand taser and seem immune to being stunned.


So, the cops assumed he was a violent crack head.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2989888&mesg_id=2989888

The cops should be fluent in eight foreign languages before they are given a gun imo
/sarc