Taser death at Vancouver airport.

[NoDeity]

You may have heard quite a bit about this one already.

Robert Dziekanski, coming from Poland to visit his mother in Kamloops, British Columbia, arrived at YVR about a month ago. He didn't speak English (and apparently had no phrase book -- his mistake) and either there was no translator available or the airport officials didn't bother to call one. For reasons that are not yet clear, he was held in a secure area for 10 hours. For 10 hours there was no translator. For 10 hours, apparently, no airport staff thought to try to find a phrase book. At a major international airport.

His mother was waiting for him in another part of the airport and repeatedly asked airport staff for help to find out where he was. That help was not given to her. Eventually, with her son having apparently vanished off the face of the earth, she went home to Kamloops, about a four hour drive. There was voice mail waiting for her at home -- her son was at the airport. So, back she went. What the voice mail failed to mention was that her son was dead.

Having been confined in a fairly small area for a very long time without any reasons for it having been communicated to him, he became frustrated and agitated. He shouted. He threw some stuff around. He probably broke a computer or two.

Airport security officers called the RCMP. Four RCMP officers arrived, confronted the man, tasered him twice, piled on top of him -- and he died. To make things worse, the RCMP seem to have lied about what happened. Fortunately, a bystander captured the incident on video. Here 's a big chunk of a news story about it:

A video by a witness shows him throwing a chair at a glass wall and yelling. But by the time police arrived, the video also shows that Dziekanski had appeared to have calmed down.

"For me, it (the video) raises a lot of questions as to how decisions were made going into that incident because what you appear to see is that they show up and move to Taser somebody,'' Hilary Homes of Amnesty International said.

In the video, Dziekanski backs away from police and raises his arms, as if to capitulate to police.

But within seconds he was zapped with a Taser, an electric stun gun. He flails in pain, is pinned by the officers, appears to have been Tazered again, and passes out. He later died.

The events on the video appear to contradict what the RCMP said about the event a day after it occurred, before the video was seen by the public.

"They found the man in the secure area with his luggage cart and chairs set around him," said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre right after Dziekanski's death.

"They tried to do the same thing, communicate with him. Chairs went flying, he grabbed the computer off a desk and threw that. They weren't getting through to this guy and the violence, again, escalating."

But in the video, the RCMP are no where to be seen when the chair is thrown. They had not yet arrived on the scene.

At no time on the video does Dziekanski grab a computer when the police are there. He had picked one up and then set it back down earlier in the video, but that was well before police had arrived.

When they do arrive, Dziekanski appears to be calm. He backs away and appears to be in the process of handing himself over to police when he is Tasered, a mere thirty seconds after police arrive.

Amnesty International wants all police departments to stop using Tasers until they have been thoroughly studied.

The RCMP originally tried to withhold the tape from the airport witness who recorded the incident. The Mounties returned the video only after he went public and threatened to sue.

from http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories

If you haven't already seen it elsewhere, that page also contains a link to the raw video footage shot by the bystander. You may find it disturbing.

[NoDeity]

The RCMP originally tried to withhold the tape from the airport witness who recorded the incident. The Mounties returned the video only after he went public and threatened to sue.

I just had to emphasize that part.

[Nielsio]

Statist pigs (cops) are among the dumbest people I have ever witnessed.


They can do one thing and one thing only: assert their dominance, and when their dominance is threatened in the slightest fashion, they go batshit insane.

[MustangGT]

Did any of you see the video? I saw it. It was pretty horrifying.

Clearly, the victim was agitated, but when the cops arrived, he immediately calmed down. But the cops, of course, tasered his ass anyway. 4 on one and they couldnt just cuff him and escort him off the premises?

I think that cops are like, always eager to use the shiny fancy toys they are given to play with. Im surprised that they arent tasering people for making illegal right turns on red lights yet. Or tasering jaywalkers.

[NoDeity]

4 on one and they couldnt just cuff him and escort him off the premises?

Yeah, that really stands out to me, too. Four trained cops on one unarmed man and they resort to a weapon?

[PedroPickles]

PROTIP

This:


is NOT this:

[Francois Tremblay]

Since the Star Trek phraser is little more than a glorified dustbuster with a really ackward angle to fire at, I wouldn't give it too much "credit." (hah!)

[NoDeity]

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... tory/Front

Dziekanski's death not caused by Taser, says device maker
Taser International Inc. lashes out a media in statement released late Friday, sends 60 legal letters demanding corrections to 'false and misleading headlines'

Globe and Mail Update

November 17, 2007 at 1:58 PM EST

The following statement, released late Friday, is attributed to Tom Smith, founder and chairman of Arizona-based TASER International Inc., in response to the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport:

An amateur video of the incident that was released earlier this week has received sensational coverage from the media with many reports drawing an unsubstantiated and uninformed conclusion as to the cause of Mr. Dziekanski's death.

This tragic incident appears to follow the pattern of many in-custody deaths or deaths following a confrontation with police. Historically medical science and forensic analysis has shown that these deaths are attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the TASER. Specifically in Canada, while previous incidents were widely reported in the media as 'TASER deaths,' the role of the TASER device has been cleared in every case to date – including the widely publicized Bagnell in-custody death in Vancouver where the TASER device was cleared by an inquest jury.

Cardiac arrest caused by electrical current is immediate. The video of the incident at the Vancouver airport indicates that the subject was continuing to fight well after the TASER application. This continuing struggle could not be possible if the subject died as a result of the TASER device electrical current causing cardiac arrest. His continuing struggle is proof that the TASER device was not the cause of his death. Further, the video clearly shows symptoms of excited delirium, a potentially fatal condition marked by symptoms of exhaustion and mania such as heavy breathing, profuse sweating, confusion, disorientation and violence toward inanimate objects.

We are taken aback by the number of media outlets that have irresponsibly published conclusive headlines blaming the TASER device and/or the law enforcement officers involved as the cause of death before completion of the investigation. These sensationalistic media reports completely ignore the earmark symptoms of excited delirium shown in the video. TASER International is transmitting over 60 legal demand letters requiring correction of these false and misleading headlines and will take other actions as appropriate. These unsubstantiated, false headlines mislead the public and could adversely influence public policy in ways which could place the lives of both law enforcement and the public at greater risk.

[Silent Rain]

It only proves that the taser didn't kill him immediately. An electrical current hitting the body like that can disrupt the body's own, sensitive currents. I can't say one way or the other, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if someone found out that the taser gave him some kind of erratic heart beat which caused him to die only after a period of time had elapsed.

Silent Rain

[NoDeity]

Regardless of whether it killed him, it inflicted terrible pain on a man who was already probably confused and very frightened.

[tnrr2]

As far as I am concerned the most evil people in this world are cops and the military; the foot soldiers who blindly follow orders. I don't see George Bush killing innocent women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan. I didn't see LBJ napalm innocents in Vietnam. And I certainly didn't see Hitler, Mao, or Stalin personally carry out any of the atrocities in their name.

In the realm of morality, intentions mean nothing; actions are everything. If I tell you to shoot someone, who is responsible for that persons death, you or I? Are you not free to ignore my suggestion?

Any order we are given we are free to disobey. By choosing a course of action the individual is morally responsible for the consequences of his action. Everyone points at Cheney and Bush as being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in Iraq today. They are not. They are powerless. They are just two old men who have some pretty depraved ideas on how the world should look. We should recognise them as such and ignore them, not bring their madness to fruition. Those responsible for the iraqi deaths are the foot soldiers who kill on demand. Yes, military man, you are a hired killer. You are not moral, you are not good, you are not doing what's right, you are evil. YOU are the reason the world is so fucked up. Not Bush, not Cheney, not any elected leader who issues the commands... YOU.

[NoDeity]

But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can't go on
- from the song "Universal Soldier" by Buffy Sainte-Marie

[Francois Tremblay]

As far as I am concerned the most evil people in this world are cops and the military

No! Really?



Are you sure about that?

[NoDeity]

from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ional/home

B.C. Mounties face growing public outrage
Residents acting 'very aggressively' toward national police force in wake of airport taser death

PATRICK BRETHOUR

From Monday's Globe and Mail

November 19, 2007 at 2:00 AM EST

VANCOUVER — A wave of public anger about the death of Robert Dziekanski is washing over the RCMP in the Lower Mainland, with upset Canadians berating officers at the airport and at the nearby Richmond detachment – and even throwing eggs at one police cruiser.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass, commanding officer for the RCMP in British Columbia, told The Globe and Mail that members of the public have been acting “very aggressively” toward officers since Mr. Dziekanski's death a month ago.

The 40-year-old Polish man died within minutes of being tasered repeatedly at Vancouver International Airport, where he had spent hours wandering in a vain search from his mother. Four officers, responding to a report of a man with erratic behaviour destroying property, entered the international arrivals area in the early morning of Oct. 14, and tasered Mr. Dziekanski less than 30 seconds later.

A bystander captured the episode on digital video, with the disturbing 10 minutes of footage showing Mr. Dziekanski screaming and writhing before being pinned down and handcuffed, and then lapsing into unconsciousness. The public release of that video last week has sparked controversy around the world, particularly in Poland, whose ambassador called the RCMP's actions “unsuitable under the circumstances, even excessive.”

Deputy Commissioner Bass disclosed Sunday that the four officers involved in the incident – one a relatively senior corporal, the other three with one to three years' experience – were reassigned to office duties two days after the Oct. 14 incident, in part to guarantee their personal safety. “They're doing work that doesn't require them to be in front-line duties,” he said.

Such a move is not standard practice, he said, but was judged to be a prudent step. “In this case, obviously, the amount of public reaction to the incident is of concern to us, including the fact that there have been a lot of very negative reaction to the members – all the members – at Richmond, very confrontational. So, it's essentially for two reasons. It's for the officers' own safety, as well as, you know, to address the concerns that are being voiced.”

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, in a statement issued Saturday, offered the force's condolences on the day a memorial service was held for Mr. Dziekanski in Kamloops, where his mother lives. Commissioner Elliott went on to write that he had been avoiding comment during an active investigation. “I recognize, however, that the RCMP cannot provide effective policing services without the support of the communities we serve and I am concerned that growing misperceptions are eroding the public's confidence in the RCMP.”

There have not been any physical confrontations between members of the public and RCMP officers, said Deputy Commissioner Bass, but many Canadians have been repeating critical comments from media reports including a Globe editorial last Friday that said Mr. Dziekanski's death amounted to a “summary execution.”

Staff Sergeant Ken Legge, of the RCMP's staff relations representative program, said he had not heard of any such incidents elsewhere in the country, adding that the reassignment of officers involved in a death-in-custody is “not abnormal.”

Deputy Commissioner Bass issued a separate statement on Saturday offering his condolences to the Dziekanski family, on behalf of the B.C. division. He also said in the statement that the Ontario Provincial Police have been asked to provide an “external and independent view” of the investigation by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

There have also been internal discussions about whether to continue using tasers, Deputy Commissioner Bass said. “We've talked long and hard about that,” he said, adding that the short-term choice came down to a complete ban or a continuation of current policy because any intermediate step would require extensive training.

The IHIT investigation is one of several inquiries launched in the wake of Mr. Dziekanski's death, with the B.C. coroner and the chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP each conducting examinations of the matter. The federal Public Security department also has a review under way, the Canadian Police Centre will launch a new study of taser technology and procedures, and British Columbia has asked the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police to examine the appropriate use of tasers.

But Murray Mollard, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said none of these reviews are by an independent body with the power to assign blame.

[Francois Tremblay]

Sham trials, even more than the so-called "real" ones.