Complaints Commission to release report into RCMP in-custody Death of Robert Dziekanski

See also RCMP watchdog won't be reappointed - CBC News - November 27, 2009

Coincidence? We shall see.

Media Advisory
Complaints Commission to release report into RCMP in-custody Death of Robert Dziekanski
December 3, 2009

Vancouver, B.C. – Paul E. Kennedy, Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) will release his report into Robert Dziekanski's in-custody death Tuesday December 8, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. (Pacific time) at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 West Hastings Street, Vancouver.

Mr. Kennedy will have a media statement and be available to answer questions starting at 10:30 a.m. Participating media will be provided with an embargoed copy of the Executive Summary at 10:00 a.m.

Mr. Kennedy launched a CPC Chair-initiated complaint into the conduct of RCMP members present at, or engaged in the Vancouver International Airport arrest of Mr. Robert Dziekanski which occurred on October 14, 2007. The complaint was initiated on November 8, 2007.

The CPC first became involved in the case when it deployed an independent observer on October 15, 2007 to monitor the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) criminal investigation which followed Mr. Dziekanski's death.

Accredited media representatives are invited to attend this event in person or via conference call (see instructions below).

When:

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Time:

10 a.m. PST (Media room opens. Embargoed materials will be available for journalists attending the press conference in person or via conference call.)

10:30 a.m. PST (Statement by Mr. Kennedy) Embargo lifted

What:

CPC Report into in-custody death of Mr. Robert DZIEKANSKI, October 14, 2007 at the Vancouver International Airport

Who:

Paul E. Kennedy, Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP

Where:

Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University
580 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.

For information on the Commission's investigation, please visit the CPC website at: www.complaintscommission.ca.

Media representatives who wish to listen to the press conference should contact the Commission representatives listed below for call-in instructions.

For more information, please contact:
Nelson Kalil
Manager, Communications
613-952-2452
nelson.kalil@cpc-cpp.gc.ca

‘RCMP has been terribly damaged’: former police officer

By Suzanne Fournier, Canwest News Service

The stark contradictions between the videotape of Robert Dziekanski’s death in RCMP custody — after he was repeatedly Tasered at Vancouver International Airport — and key parts of RCMP officers’ evidence at the Braidwood inquiry could have serious repercussions once the inquiry ends.

The four officers may have gone into the inquiry believing they would never face criminal charges — as decided by the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch last Dec. 12 — but that decision could change, “especially given the public outcry at evidence from the inquiry,” notes Robert Gordon, head of Simon Fraser University’s criminology department.

“I don’t think anyone in my network, or in most comments I hear, is convinced the officers are telling the truth.”

Gordon says the officers could still face criminal charges, “and it looks increasingly like the RCMP should proceed with internal discipline. Does the RCMP have the stomach for that? It looks now like they don’t have a choice.”

But Gordon says it would be “much easier and quicker to proceed with civil litigation” against the RCMP, or even other government or corporate agencies that harmed Dziekanski, failed to assist him, or failed to act to save his life.

“As in the O.J. Simpson case, the burden of proof is far less, and a civil suit could provide Mr. Dziekanski’s mother with more comfort and compensation,” said Gordon.

Gordon says “the public may call for its pound of flesh” but said he doesn’t think, “with all due respect to the Dziekanski family, that there is much to be gained by dragging the four officers through the criminal courts.”

The RCMP have been “terribly damaged” by the inquiry, said Gordon, but “they’ve already dug their own grave by insisting their officers acted appropriately. They refused to acknowledge problems in how their officers responded and handled Mr. Dziekanski. As a former police officer myself, I can confidently say it was atrocious police work.”

Walter Kosteckyj, lawyer for Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, has confirmed that his client will consider civil litigation, but said the federal government, which is responsible for the RCMP, the airport, and the Canada Border Services Agency, has rebuffed a bid to get Cisowski an apology and compensation, in lieu of a painful civil trial.

Kosteckyj notes Dziekanski’s mother, a Kamloops janitor, “has suffered terribly and is enduring a significant loss; he was her only son and would have been the mainstay of her life. . . . She’s unable to work.

“The people of Canada expect that it is time for sanity to prevail. Our national government did not treat this man in a fair manner at all, nor have they been fair to Zofia Cisowski.”

Kosteckyj said compensation and an apology by Ottawa is preferable to “dragging my client through a civil trial.”

The Braidwood inquiry is to resume March 23 for two more weeks, with testimony from pathology and medical witnesses, Cisowski herself, and the fourth officer, RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson.

Commissioner Tom Braidwood, a former judge, is to report to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal by June 30.

Neil MacKenzie, Crown counsel spokesman, said the decision last Dec. 12 not to charge the officers was based on the police investigation by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

“It’s always open to us to have the matter reviewed and resubmitted,” said MacKenzie, noting, “It’s not uncommon for us to return a file to police.”

Gordon noted that, because the IHIT had the benefit of the Pritchard video to compare with the officers’ statements, yet didn’t recommend charges, it might be necessary to get a special prosecutor or independent police investigation, all of which would be time-consuming and costly.

“Certainly, if the Criminal Justice Branch felt criminal offences were committed and they lacked confidence that IHIT was able to do a thorough investigation, they are able (after the Braidwood inquiry) to request another investigation,” said Gordon.

“A special prosecutor could be appointed if it’s decided that an independent decision is required . . . and that’s always the prerogative of the attorney general.”

RCMP emails reveal chaotic time after airport taser death

August 17, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — While RCMP brass and its media relations division scrambled to keep from being "crucified" over Taser use and the death of a man at Vancouver's airport, they also had to deal with an increasing barrage of complaints accusing officers of being everything from clowns to killers.

Email documents, released to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, showed great concern from Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office down to the RCMP's British Columbia media relations office over the public's perception about the death of Robert Dziekanski.

"I am going to get some advice, but I think I might wade in here to set some of the record straight with the media," RCMP Chief Supt. Dale McGowan wrote in an email to the Cmdr. Peter German.

"We are being crucified on why the Taser usage and our members' actions at the preliminary stages."

German later replied that he had "just watched the Taser video on BBC TV in Australia!"

Weeks before, RCMP media spokesman Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre wrote to management that Cpl. Dale Carr - the media spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team - had concluded there was a possibility of an "international incident" because of Dziekanski's death.

In one email days after the death, Day's office issues an "urgent" request to RCMP to see the latest media lines Mounties have sent out on the Taser incident.

Lemaitre outlined suggestions for what the RCMP should tell the media, including that the death was being reviewed on several levels and that the investigation was continuing.

On October 14, 2007 Dziekanski spent hours in the international arrivals area at the Vancouver airport before he was confronted by four RMCP officers.

A bystander's video of the confrontation shows the officers attempting a brief conversation with the confused and sweating Polish man before Dziekanski was jolted twice with a Taser.

He died minutes after the officers pinned him to the ground.

Sgt. Tim Shields - who has just taken over the communications section at E Division in Vancouver - said in an interview last week that the entire issue has hurt the Mounties' public image.

"Yes, of course it has," he said. "And we hope that when more of the facts are made public ... it will present a clearer picture of truly what happened."

The eyewitness video was seized by officers at the scene for evidence, and the owner later threatened legal action to get it back, saying he wanted to release what he recorded to the media.

In the hours after the death, Lemaitre told the media that officers at the scene attempted to calm the man, but they felt threatened.

When the eyewitness video was finally released, it showed police using the Taser less than half-a-minute after first confronting the man.

After the tape was aired around the world, the RCMP were inundated with angry emails.

"Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre should be fired for purposely misrepresenting the facts and suppressing the video on a false premise," wrote one person who's name was removed from the documents. "It appears you have been caught in an outright lie," wrote another, whose name was also stripped from the email. The email had a subject line reading "state-sanctioned murder."

Lemaitre told one correspondent he had to work with the information that he was given by the investigation team, and he suggested that if he had it to do over again, he would have said nothing.

"In the world of communications, police have often been criticized for not giving details and/or information regarding an incident resulting in allegations that we are hiding something," Lemaitre wrote.

He told the complainant several investigations will reveal why officers did what they did. "As for myself, as a spokesperson, in the future, I will consider saying that we have no comment, there's an ongoing investigation, and weather the storm of media criticism that we are not forthcoming."

Despite Lemaitre's comment, Shields said police haven't changed the way they deal with the media. "We have to ensure that we have an open relationship with the media because we rely on the media to get the message out to the public," he said.

Another member of the public wrote asking police "So how are you going to lie your way out of this one?" and made reference to the Mahar Arar where RCMP handed over inaccurate information about the Canadian man to U.S. authorities. "You clowns are nothing but a sad, expensive joke," the writer ended.

Later correspondence grew increasing hostile and is riddled with foul language. Some are even threatening. "When will charges of manslaughter be brought against the officers?" asks a member of the public. "Seeing as there will be no proper action taken against the criminals, I should hope a similar fate befalls their families."

Carr and Lemaitre responded to several of the writers.

It is vitriol Shields said he's never seen before from the public.

"After the millions of good things that we have done, it was very disheartening to see that level of backlash and anger from the public."

Not all the emails were negative. Chris Newel of the Clearwater RCMP wrote to Lemaitre suggesting police put out a news release indicating how many times a Taser was used successfully. "I see on the news eight people have died in five years - that's about 1.5 a year. How many would have died if we didn't have the Taser?" Newel wondered. "Of those eight, how many had pre-existing conditions that likely contributed, if not were the cause, of death?" "Thanks for that," Lemaitre replied. "Stand by for the autopsy results! We might be in for a surprise, like Tasers didn't kill this guy, pre-existing medical conditions and or drugs in the system, wait and see."

No drugs or alcohol were found in Dziekanski's body, but the cause of death still hasn't been released.

A briefing document written in November 2007 for RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said it was the B.C.'s Coroner's Office that left police in an embarrassing position after RCMP refused to release the bystander's video before it was used at the coroner's inquest.

Elliott said the coroner, "in an unprecedented action and in contradiction to his request of the prior week," sent a letter to the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team saying the coroner's office instead had no problem with the videotape being released. "This left no legal basis for the videotape to be held," Elliott wrote.

The reverberations from Dziekanski's death and the release of the videotape are still being felt, with most of the investigations ongoing, including a public inquiry which will begin hearing witnesses testify in October about the night Dziekanski died.

The B.C. Crown is looking at a police report into whether charges should be laid against the officers involved.

Prosecutors look over charge assessment report on Dziekanski death

June 17, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — B.C. Crown prosecutors are looking over a police report that will help them determine whether charges should be laid in the death of a man hit with a police Taser at Vancouver airport.

Robert Dziekanski died minutes after being shocked by the RCMP Taser at Vancouver International Airport last October. Police have the option in a charge-assessment report to recommend criminal charges.

But Cpl. Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team that reviewed the incident, said they left the decision of whether to charge any of the four officers involved up to the Crown.

"In this particular case, as happens quite frequently, I-HIT didn't make a request for specific charges," Carr said. "We simply forwarded the facts and the evidence to Crown counsel for them to review and determine if there should be charges."

The homicide team includes investigators from the RCMP and various municipal police detachments in the province.

Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said Tuesday that prosecutors have had the charge-assessment report for about a month. He said the lack of a charge recommendation from police isn't unusual. More often than not, there is no recommendation. Police will often say in their report what area of the law they investigated, he said. "But it's unusual for them to say, you know, we recommend this person be charged. It doesn't come to that," Lowe said.

Carr said the team still has to supply a second report into what he said is a "very large and complex investigation." The supplemental report with translated transcripts, external reports and other follow up details will be handed in to Crown soon, he said.

The homicide team's investigation is one of several into the high-profile death, including a coroner's inquest and a B.C. public inquiry into Taser use.

Amateur video of Dziekanski's dying moments released after his death has been shown around the world on TV and the Internet. The video shows Richmond, B.C., RCMP officers confronting the confused and agitated man, and seconds later using the stun gun on him. Dziekanski died on the floor of the airport shortly afterwards, as officers kneeled on the still-struggling man.

Police silent on charges in airport taser death investigation

June 17, 2008
CBC News

Homicide investigators in Metro Vancouver are not confirming reports that they have recommended no charges be laid against any police officers in the death of a Polish immigrant in a Taser incident at Vancouver International Airport last year.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, died shortly after RCMP officers shocked him at least twice with the stun guns in the arrivals lounge of the airport late at night last Oct. 14.

Some media outlets have reported that homicide investigators have completed their examination, and have recommended to the B.C. Crown prosecutors' office that no charges be laid.

But when the CBC contacted Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team on Monday morning, he was unable to confirm the reports.

Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said prosecutors have had the report for about a month, but he could not say if the report recommends charges against the RCMP officers involved in the incident.

The investigation is one of several into the high-profile death, including a coroner's inquest and the Braidwood Inquiry into Taser use.

In B.C., police are able to recommend to Crown prosecutors whether they believe charges should be laid in an investigation, but it is up to the Crown prosecutor's office to make a final decision on whether should charges be laid.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is a regional police agency made up of members from the RCMP and various municipal police forces.

No charges called for in report on taser death of Robert Dziekanski

June 17, 2008
IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail

Vancouver -- Police have finished their investigation into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski and forwarded a report to the Crown that does not call for any criminal charges in the matter, said a spokesman for the integrated homicide investigation team that conducted the probe.

Mr. Dziekanski died last October after being tasered by Mounties when he began acting erratically in the international arrivals area of Vancouver airport. Corporal Dale Carr said it will be up to the Crown to decide whether charges are warranted. Such charges might be laid against the officers involved in the confrontation, police have suggested.

"It's the full, entire investigation. It's completed, done," said Cpl. Carr. A Crown spokesman said the office is reviewing the report.

RCMP has new taser policy, inquiry told

May 23, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - The RCMP has changed its Taser policy and now trains officers only to use the weapon when a person exhibits "active resistance" to arrest or police commands, a provincial Taser inquiry was told Thursday.

The RCMP's national use-of-force coordinator from Ottawa, Insp. Troy Lightfoot, told the inquiry the RCMP changed its policy from "passive resistance" to "active resistance" to adhere to recommendations about Taser use made last December by Paul Kennedy, head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Lightfoot said the RCMP has also changed the re-certification training period for Taser use to every year from every three years after the initial two-day training session that teaches officers how to deploy Tasers.

Patrick McGowan, counsel for the Thomas Braid inquiry probing the use of Tasers in B.C., asked why the RCMP didn't adopt Kennedy's recommendation that Tasers be reclassified as an impact weapon only to be used in situations where a suspect exhibits "combative behaviour."

"It's a misunderstanding of the lexicon and definition," Lightfoot replied. "I don't think we're far off."

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre, the officer in charge of criminal operations in B.C., began the RCMP presentation by expressing his condolences to the mother of Robert Dziekanski, the 40-year-old Polish man who was jolted twice with a Taser at Vancouver International Airport by RCMP last Oct. 14.

"The unfortunate tragic events that occurred last Oct. 14 were not what anyone would have ever wished," the senior Mountie told the inquiry. "They cannot be undone but the RCMP is determined to learn what we can from this tragedy and to make improvements for the future."

Macintyre said an investigation of the airport incident is still being conducted by members of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which will eventually forward a report to Crown for a decision on whether charges are warranted.

He said the RCMP looks forward to the results of the inquiry in order to make improvements to safeguard public safety.

Macintyre said Taser use by the RCMP has increased dramatically since it was first introduced in 2000, when there were 4,392 Mounties working in B.C., compared to about 6,500 now.

He suggested the increase in the number of Tasers and the number of officers trained to use the devices has caused usage to shoot up in recent years -- there were 496 Taser incidents in B.C. last year, up from 218 in 2005.

Nationally, the RCMP reported 1,119 Taser incidents in 2006 and 1,414 in 2007, compared with 597 incidents in 2005.

He told the inquiry that trainers teach that the Taser weapon is not risk-free, but nothing is taught about the possibility of causing death. He said that's because there is no medical research to prove Tasers cause death -- a controversial point frequently discussed at the inquiry by several independent medical experts.

Earlier in the day, a Montreal biomedical engineer told the inquiry that Taser jolts involving a person with heart disease increase the probability of death.

"There is a strong statistical association between Taser-related deaths and heart diseases," said Pierre Savard.

He also said the current studies on healthy people or healthy animals are insufficient to conclude that the Taser weapon is completely safe.

Savard, a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, said the placement of Taser darts within 1.6 centimetres of the heart could stimulate heart tissue and lead to ventricular fibrillation, which causes the heart to quiver, desynchronizing the pumping action of the heart chambers and causing a drop in blood pressure.

Such an occurrence requires the use of a defibrillator to get the heart to return to its normal rhythm, he said.

The Taser delivers short pulses of electrical current through electrodes over the surface of the body, causing automatic muscle contraction and incapacitation.

Savard said the electrical current is insufficient to cause heart tissue damage in a normal person, but could affect a person with heart disease and cardiac scar tissue.

He said a Taser shock causes the heart rate to jump to 137 beats per minute (72 beats is normal).

Savard said he began researching the issue after the death of Dziekanski. An amateur video of the incident, posted on the Internet, caused an international public outcry and led the B.C. government to order the inquiry.

Senior B.C. Mounties defend use of tasers

May 23, 2008
Suzanne Fournier, The Province

Three RCMP officers faced the Braidwood inquiry on Tasers yesterday to express "condolences" for the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, but also to insist the Taser is a valuable tool they plan to keep using.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre, head of E division in B.C., said he wanted to "express my sincere condolences to the Dziekanski family and especially to Zofia Cisowski on the death of her loved one."

But Macintyre also said the "RCMP continues to believe the Conducted Energy Weapon is a valuable tool . . . that when used properly can save lives and reduce injury to officers and to the public."

Macintyre noted RCMP appeared "voluntarily" at the Taser inquiry, which was set up by the B.C. government and has no jurisdiction over the federal force.

Outside the inquiry, Macintyre admitted that the worldwide attention garnered by a cellphone video of Dziekanski being Tasered last Oct. 14 at the Vancouver International Airport, and then dying within seconds "was tough for us, very tough."

He said Mounties will appear at the coroner's inquest into Dziekanski's death and are co-operating with ongoing criminal investigations by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and B.C. Crown counsel.

RCMP use-of-force trainer Cpl. Gregg Gillis said RCMP in B.C. used Tasers 496 times in 2007, and they've been used 148 times this year. A total of 3,153 RCMP officers in B.C. are trained to use the Taser in the event of "active resistance."

Earlier yesterday, biomedical engineer Pierre Savard, of Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, said the effects of the Taser on the heart are similar to two major cardiac tests, but those tests are carried out only in a medical setting and only when there is a defibrillator present to bring a person back to life.

Taser International says its weapons can't kill, but Savard noted the company warns there is "a degree of risk that someone will get hurt or may even be killed due to . . . unforeseen circumstances and individual susceptibilities."

Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, representing the family of Robert Bagnell, who died after he was Tasered by Vancouver police in 2004, said he has compiled a list of 344 "unexplained deaths" in people who were Tasered.

Ward said one of the two Tasers used on Bagnell registered thousands of times the supposed 50,000-volt electrical output when tested by an independent lab and he recommended the Taser used on Dziekanski should also be tested.

The inquiry concludes its first phase today with a presentation by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Commissioner Tom Braidwood, a retired judge, will look into Dziekanski's death in the fall.

Taser probe won't focus on police oversight, Oppal says

February 22, 2008
IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER -- The head of a public inquiry into the death of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver International Airport is free to look at the issue of police investigating themselves, but the issue won't be an official part of his efforts, B.C.'s Attorney-General says.

"We want this to be more focused on what happened that night," Wally Oppal said yesterday, referring to the morning of Oct. 14, 2007, when Robert Dziekanski, acting erratically in the international arrivals area, was subjected to two taser blasts by the RCMP. He died at the scene.

"I expect we will hear about whether or not police were following their own procedures and things like that, and I think that's the reason for the inquiry. We want to find out what happened and how can we prevent that type of tragedy from happening again," Mr. Oppal said.

Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who will head the inquiry, "has a wide discretion," Mr. Oppal said. "He might well want to touch on some of that. He added that he did not think the subject of police investigating themselves "is really an issue here. What we want to know is what happened to poor Mr. Dziekanski." He noted his ministry is reviewing a report unrelated to the Dziekanski matter that addresses police oversight, and he plans to propose reforms in the current legislative session.

The inquiry will unfold in two phases. One will look at the overall use of tasers by B.C. police. The second will look at the circumstances of Mr. Dziekanski's death.

The news that police investigating themselves won't be a focus of the inquiry came as a disappointment to the lawyer for Zofia Cisowski, Mr. Dziekanski's mother. Walter Kosteckyj said yesterday the issue should be on the table. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been conducting an ongoing investigation into the case that could lead to charges against the officers involved. Mr. Kosteckyj said there is a conflict in having the team - with Mounties among its members - investigate a case involving the conduct of police.

"Does that make sense?" he asked rhetorically. "My client wants to make sure, by the time the inquiry is done, everything is looked into, including police conduct ..."

Vancouver taser probe awaiting funding

January 26, 2008
Petti Fong, Toronto Star

Vancouver–Four RCMP officers involved in an incident in which a Polish man died at Vancouver International Airport remain on the job as the investigation into their use of a Taser gun awaits funding for interviews overseas.

Three months after Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after police stunned him with a Taser gun while trying to subdue him, investigators are still waiting to conduct some interviews.

The four Mounties from the Richmond detachment remain on the job, said Cpl. Dale Carr with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. "We're still working at it and waiting for authorization to go to Poland and Germany to speak to potential witnesses and get a sense of Mr. Dziekanski's life in the hours before he arrived in Vancouver," said Carr. "We're still waiting for government approval for those funds."

Nine investigations were launched after a videotape of Dziekanski's last moments sparked public outrage. The video showed an upset man, who was clearly not violent, being Tasered by police at the airport and then pressed down on the floor after he staggered and collapsed.

Dziekanski had arrived at the airport after his first-ever flight. He'd left Poland, with a stopover in Frankfurt, to join his mother Zofia Cisowski in Canada. The pair did not find each other at the airport. After waiting at the airport for seven hours, she returned home to Kamloops, a four-hour drive away.

Polish authorities are also conducting their own investigation.

Polish prosecutors may visit B.C. for taser probe

January 24, 2008
IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER -- Polish prosecutors investigating the possibility Robert Dziekanski died due to an "abnormal intervention" by the RCMP may come to British Columbia as part of their probe, a Polish spokesman says.

Mr. Dziekanski, a 40-year-old immigrant from Poland, died last October after being tasered by Mounties during a confrontation at Vancouver airport - a situation that prompted an ongoing debate about the use of tasers by police forces across Canada.

Michal Szulczynski, press spokesman for the district public prosecutors' office in the city of Gliwice, Poland, raised the possibility of a B.C. visit for prosecutors in a statement sent to The Globe and Mail in response to a series of e-mailed questions.

Prosecutors began their work in late November, looking into the possibility that an "abnormal intervention" by Canadian police "unintentionally" caused the death of Mr. Dziekanski, he writes. Such an offence is a violation of the Polish penal code, he writes. However, he was not clear on whether Polish prosecutors are intent on actually laying charges against the Mounties involved in the case. He writes that the penal code says that Polish criminal law applies to foreigners acting abroad who have committed a prohibited act against the best interests of a Polish citizen.

Mr. Dziekanski, 40, was living in Gliwice before his ill-fated trip - his first-ever airplane flight - to Vancouver last October. He died on Oct. 14 after he began acting erratically following a long wait in the international arrivals area of the airport.

Mr. Szulczynski referred to a 1994 treaty between Canada and Poland on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. "The agreement also provides the possibility of the Polish public prosecutors taking part in the proceedings occurring in Canada ... providing that it is not against the local legal system," he wrote in Polish, translated for The Globe. "Therefore a possibility of the Polish public prosecutor coming to Canada is not excluded."

The actual text of the treaty says the parties commit to "grant each other the widest measure of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters." Legal assistance is defined, among other things, as the location of relevant persons and objects, documents, records and the "voluntary appearance of persons" requested by a party to the deal.

The Polish investigation is taking place according to that country's regulations on penal proceedings and is independent from proceedings conducted in Canada, Mr. Szulczynski writes.

A spokeswoman for federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the minister is aware of the Polish investigation, but that it would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation "either in Canada or abroad." A spokesman for Foreign Affairs said they have not been contacted by Polish officials seeking information in the case.

During a recent trip to Poland, Zofia Cisowski, the mother of Mr. Dziekanski - her only child - was twice interviewed by prosecutors. Her Vancouver-based lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, said yesterday Ms. Cisowski told him the prosecutors also wanted to have a chat with him at some point.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which investigates cases outside Vancouver, is looking into the Dziekanski case, gathering evidence that will determine if charges will be laid and also provide material for a coroner's inquest. The Canadian officers are expected to travel to Poland as part of that investigation, seeking information on Mr. Dziekanski's past.

A provincial inquiry into the police use of tasers and the death of Mr. Dziekanski is also in the works, but the inquiry chair has not been named nor the terms of reference released.

Police weapons expert says tasers save lives, prevent injuries

November 19, 2007
The Canadian Press

VICTORIA - A police weapons expert says Tasers save lives and he personally believes he would have killed several people in the line of duty if it wasn't for his Taser. Victoria Police Const. Mike Massine said Monday he used his Taser on several occasions to diffuse tense situations where use of deadly force with his firearm was the next option.

The B.C. government announced a public inquiry Monday into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski last month at Vancouver airport. Dziekanski, 40, died shortly after being hit by a Taser jolt from one of four RCMP officers at the scene.

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the inquiry will examine policy governing the use of Tasers by police in British Columbia, but stopped short of ordering an immediate moratorium on Taser use.

Massine said the Victoria Police was the first police department in Canada to start using Tasers in 1999. There has not been a Taser-related death in Victoria. "Tasers are saving lives," said Massine. "We've got independent studies from American police agencies, Canadian police agencies, United Kingdom police agencies, that show that the use of this tool has lowered the number of injuries to police officers. It's lowered the amount of injuries to the subjects that it's being applied to.

"And I can tell you from personal experience, had I not had a Taser at my disposal I may have had to shoot and kill more than one person because they were armed with knives," he said. But Tasers should not be considered a replacement for guns. "What you have to understand is that when I used this conducted energy weapon (Taser) on somebody armed with a knife, I had somebody watching my back with a pistol. It works in concert with lethal force. It's never intended to replace it." Massine said he helped develop the provincial and national standards for Taser use by police officers.

Former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill led a nationwide review of Taser use by police. The review recommended police continue using the weapons. Battershill has recently been suspended from duty by Victoria's police board for allegations that have yet to be made public.

Massine said police officers are given a five-hour Taser operations course that includes theory and field training. "It includes some hands-on use of the weapon, shooting at targets, and also at the end of the day, it culminates in a reality -based training scenario," said Massine. Those learning to use the weapons are put through an excercise in which an actor in protective gear and the trainee act out a high-stress scenario.

Massine said police Taser-use guidelines have not changed since 2005. He said the Taser does what it's supposed to do without causing the injuries or deaths other police weapons like batons and guns can cause. "It is painful, there's no doubt about it," said Massine. "It does work on pain compliance. Every time I've been exposed to it, which has been about a dozen times for five seconds, it hurts. It has left me unable to fight. But the thing with the Taser is once it's turned off, I no longer feel the affects."

Victoria Police Const. Grant Hamilton said his department has used the Taser 18 times this year and 17 times last year. He recalled one situation this year where police used the Taser to prevent a woman from committing suicide. The woman had a knife and had already slashed open her legs when police fired the Taser to prevent her from doing more harm to herself. Hamilton said the police will abide by any changes recommended by any provincial or federal reviews of Taser use by police.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police announced last week the Canadian Police Research Centre will undertake a study on the safety and use of Tasers, also known as Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs).

Steven Chabot, president of the police chiefs association and deputy director general of the Surete du Quebec, said the research centre will look at how to evaluate evolving CED technology and encourage information-sharing on the devices.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said over the weekend that the four officers involved in the Taser incident at Vancouver International Airport have been reassigned. He said he had not spoken publicly about last month's altercation until now because he wanted to let investigations run their course.

Public outrage erupted after video footage of the Taser incident was released last week. The video showed officers zapping the distressed Polish immigrant twice, and then physically subduing him on the floor. Dziekanski died at the scene. Victoria man Paul Pritchard was at the airport on Oct. 14 and witnessed and videotaped police dealing with Dziekanski. He loaned his video to police, but ended up launching a lawsuit to get it back when police didn't return it after 48 hours. Pritchard's statement of claim said an RCMP official told him he may not get the video back for more than two years. Police gave the video back last week and it was seen worldwide after Pritchard made it public.

The announcement Monday that the B.C. government would launch a full public inquiry into the Oct. 14 death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport is the latest in a growing list of probes into the controversial incident:

-RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team looking at actions of the four Mounties who responded to the call that ended in Dziekanski's death.

-Ontario Provincial Police review of the IHIT investigation.

-B.C. Coroner's Service investigation, leading up to inquest next year.

-Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP self-initiated investigation, coupled with complaint from B.C. Civil Liberties Association, monitored by independent observer.

-RCMP-ordered independent officer review of police actions in the incident.

-Review of policies on Taser use ordered by federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

-B.C. public inquiry into circumstances surrounding Dziekanski's death and Taser policies and procedures by police in the province.

'Awful screaming' in taser video to be made public

November 14, 2007
CTV News

Video of a confrontation between the RCMP and a distraught man in Vancouver International Airport who died after Mounties used a Taser on him will be made public later today.

The man who shot the footage warned the video is disturbing. "There's going to be some really awful screaming on it, and it's going to be hard to watch because it is what it is -- it's a man dying on film," Paul Pritchard told CTV British Columbia on Tuesday. The RCMP officers confronted Polish national Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14 when he started acting out in the early-morning hours.

Pritchard said the footage will show the following: Dziekanski was very agitated, acting irrational and throwing things around when police arrived. Witnesses were able to calm him. There were four RCMP officers on scene, not three as the RCMP have claimed. Once they arrived, the officers made no real attempt to engage Dziekanski or defuse the situation. Police gestured to Dziekanski that he should back up. In response, the 40-year-old raised his hands and retreated.

"He's almost excited the police are there -- somebody who works there can sort him out," Pritchard said about the video. "The police surround him and he puts his shoulders like this," Pritchard said, demonstrating a hands-up motion, "and walks away from them. That's when they shoot him."

The tape then shows the following, he said:

Upon arrival, the Taser was quickly drawn;
The Taser was first used about 35 seconds after police arrived on scene;
As three officers held Dziekanski down, a second attempt to Taser him was made;
After they had Dziekanski restrained, an officer placed his knee on Dziekanski's neck and held it there; and
Although the officers were trained in CPR, none of them attempted to revive Dziekanski after he lost consciousness.

Emergency radio logs leaked to CTV British Columbia show a 12-minute gap from when Dziekanski lost consciousness and when B.C. Ambulance arrived. The airport has its own paramedics who could have been at the scene within two minutes, but the airport supervisor did not call them, CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger reported.

Dziekanski, who didn't speak English, had just arrived from Poland on his first airliner trip ever. He had come to Canada to be with his mother, Zofia Cisowski, who lives in Kamloops. However, for reasons that are still not clear, it took 10 hours for him to clear customs. Dziekanski and his mother never connected, and she left the airport to return to Kamloops.

The Polish government wants the tragedy to be thoroughly examined. "We would be grateful for the speediest investigation and if there was wrong-doing we need to know about it," Maciej Krych, the Polish consul general told CTV British Columbia on Oct. 23.

"It's disgusting to watch but it's an example of how not to handle a situation," Pritchard said of his video. "We need to do something different -- different procedures. Something needs to change so this doesn't happen again."

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP has filed its own complaint about the case. The RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is also investigating the incident.

Some cellphone video of the fatal confrontation had been released previously but Pritchard's video is of much higher quality. Pritchard turned the video over to the RCMP, who then told him it could be up to two years before they returned the footage. When he threatened to sue, they returned it to him.

While Cisowski said last week she wanted to view the video, her lawyer said Tuesday that she is now having second thoughts. She still supports releasing the video to the public. Cisowski will bury her son on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Kamloops.

Mom should not watch video of son's death at Vancouver airport, says witness

November 13, 2007
Canadian Press

VICTORIA - Hands raised as if in surrender. The blood-curdling scream after he is hit by a shot from a Taser. An RCMP officer pressing his shin with the full weight of his body into the prone man's head and neck. These are all reasons why Kamloops resident Zofia Cisowski should choose not to watch a video that captures the last moments of her son Robert Dziekanski's life, says the Victoria man who filmed an incident last month at Vancouver International Airport.

Paul Pritchard's video is to be made public Wednesday afternoon in Vancouver. Pritchard, who recorded the confrontation between Dziekanski, 40, and the RCMP, said earlier he wants the public to see what happened early on the morning of Oct. 14 when the newly arrived Polish immigrant was zapped by two 50,000-volt charges from the Taser. But it's not something Dziekanski's mother should see, Pritchard said Tuesday. Cisowski said last week she wanted to view the video to understand what happened to her son, but on Tuesday her lawyer said she was having second thoughts.

Pritchard has watched the video he took several times since it was returned to him last week by the RCMP after he initiated legal action to get it back. "You see him in a state that's obviously not her son," Pritchard said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "You see him and he's sweating and he's breathing really, really heavily and obviously that's not the son she knows. "I don't know if her last memory should be of him like that, and then the blood-curdling scream that you hear when they Taser him. The audio's sickening. His scream is brutal. You hear a man die, obviously."

Family friend Greg Laska told The Kamloops Daily News Tuesday that Cisowski is so emotionally distraught she has decided never to see the video. "She's not going to do it," Laska said. "She's not well. It's been hard, too hard for her."

Pritchard said the video shows the four Mounties who arrived at the airport to investigate complaints about Dziekanski using the Taser almost immediately to subdue him. The Mounties appeared to resort to the Taser without considering other options, he said. "There's four of them and it takes about 15 seconds for them to do it,"' Pritchard said. "You can just clearly see how many other options they had that they didn't use." The other options included handling him physically, calling for a translator or asking the public at the airport about Dziekanski's actions, Pritchard said.

The incident now is the subject of reviews by the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, the independent commission that looks into complaints against the Mounties and the Vancouver Airport Authority. A spokesman for the team said Tuesday the video had been returned because there were no longer concerns that it would jeopardize the investigation, but he had no comment on its substance.

"The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is conducting a fair and unbiased investigation," said Cpl. Dale Carr. "To make comments on evidence prior to the completion of that investigation and a pending inquest would be highly inappropriate."

Dziekanski died about 10 hours after arriving on a flight from Europe to come live with his mother in Kamloops. She had waited for him in the greeting area of the airport's international arrivals terminal for several hours but somehow they did not connect and she returned to Kamloops, where a message from officials told her to come back to Vancouver immediately. Just why Dziekanski languished inside the secure part of the arrivals terminal from Saturday afternoon after clearing customs until early Sunday morning remains a mystery.

Pritchard described the video last week but gave more details Tuesday. The video shows Dziekanski raising his hands in a position that appears to be a surrender or give-up pose, but he's shot with a Taser, he said. Dziekanski, who had trashed a work desk and tipped over a computer, was holding a stapler in one hand but didn't appear to be preparing to battle the officers, he said. "It's so clear how he's just done," said Pritchard. "The cops have finally come after so long and he kind of just puts his shoulders up and points at the computer, like, 'yes, I did that, OK, arrest me, take me somewhere so I can get hold of my mom type thing.' And then they shoot him." The video shows one officer placing his shin across Dziekanski's neck and head and then after several moments he gets up and Dziekanski isn't moving, Pritchard said.

He turned over the video to police investigators on a promise it would be returned within 48 hours but went public with a lawsuit after being told RCMP might keep it for years. They returned it last week. Pritchard said he expects the video to have an impact with the public and the police, who will likely re-examine their policies when it comes to use-of-force guidelines. "Things are going to change because of this,"' Pritchard said. "People are going to have to be held responsible and accountable. It's clear in this video, somebody is going to have to be held accountable because they just handled it so wrong."

Last week, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP filed its own complaint about the incident. Commissioner Paul Kennedy said the public needs to know its questions about the incident will be answered. The complaint also allows the commission to look both at the use of force and also whether the RCMP investigation into the incident is itself adequate, he said.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association filed a second complaint Tuesday, alleging the RCMP misrepresented the facts of Dziekanski's death and unreasonably seized and suppressed the video recording of the incident.

A public funeral for Dziekanski is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Kamloops Funeral Home.

Intense interest in memorial service for Robert Dziekanski - many plan on being at Nov. 17 taser victim’s funeral

November 11, 2007
By Dale Bass, Kamloops This Week

There’s a concerted effort being made to have relatives of people who have been tasered attend the November 17 celebration of the life of Robert Dziekanski. Patti Gillman and her mother, Riki Bagnell, have sent e-mails to people who, like them, have had family members tasered. Gillman said they’re spreading the word in case any others want to join them at the ceremony, where one of them will speak.

Her brother, Robert Bagnell, died in police custody after being tasered four years ago. Cameron Ward, the lawyer who represented the family at the inquest and who has spoken out frequently about the tasers, will also attend.

Gillman said they hope their participation doesn’t turn the event into a media circus. She noted it’s difficult to continue advocating for police to stop using the taser without the media’s help, “but we are coming there [from Ontario] to show our support for the family. “But I think there’s a change in attitude happening now across the country, and I want to keep the momentum going . . . We want to show our solidarity with Zofia and further focus on the lethality of this so-called non-lethal weapon.”

Jurek Baltakis, who has been helping Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, arrange the ceremony, said the event is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Kamloops Funeral Home.

Dziekanski died at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14 after he was tasered by RCMP. The Polish construction worker was agitated after spending several hours in the immigration area, waiting for his mother. Cisowski was outside the secure area, trying to find someone to help her find her son. After hours of seeking help, she was told to go home because her only child, who was moving to Kamloops to start a new life, was not at the airport.

Since the incident, several investigations have begun, including a coroner’s inquest, an RCMP review of the actions taken by its members and a review by the integrated homicide investigation team. Added to that last week is a review initiated by Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC).

Nelson Kalil, CPC manager of communications, said Kennedy has the power to initiate his own complaint. He most recently started one into the death of Ian Bush while in police custody in Houston. The commission is separate from the RCMP and reports directly to Parliament. Kalil said the “overarching issue” is Kennedy’s concern that none of the other investigations are compromised.

The chairman has spoken out often about RCMP accountability and a need for enhanced oversight of the federal policing force. He has recommended new legislation that would create a civilian review body of police activities that would be transparent and accountable. While the commission can’t order legislative changes, its direct reporting to the government carries great weight, Kalil said. “If we tell them of an interest of great concern to us, we would hope they would listen.”

Kalil said the legislation envisions a body similar to the special investigations unit in Ontario, a civilian agency that investigates police actions that involve death or serious injury. Dziekanski’s death has sparked intense public concern, Kalil said, and is expected to continue this week if his mother allows the release of a videotape of her son’s last minutes of life.

The tape was the centre of a legal battle between Victoria resident Paul Pritchard, who recorded it and lent it to the RCMP to view, and the police, who told him they would not return it. They later changed their minds and gave the tape to Pritchard, who has ensured that Cisowski watches it first. On Friday, citing her emotional state, her lawyer ordered a media blackout until a press conference is held in Vancouver on Tuesday (this has been postponed to Wednesday). It is expected at that time she will release the tape to the public.

Meanwhile, fundraising continues to help Cisowski take her son’s ashes to Poland for burial. She has no savings, having worked two jobs for seven years to pay for her son’s move to Canada. An account has been established at the downtown Kamloops branch of Valley First Credit Union. To date, about $5,000 has been donated.

RCMP Complaints Commissioner launches investigation into death of Robert Dziekanski

November 9, 2007
Jonathan Fowlie , Vancouver Sun

... on Thursday, Canada's RCMP complaints commissioner announced he has launched an investigation into the death of the Polish immigrant, bringing to four the number of official investigations into the incident. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is reviewing the case, the force is doing an "independent officer review," and the coroner is planning an inquest.

"Given the ongoing expressions of public concern as they relate to the degree and type of force required by police officers when effecting an arrest ... and the propriety of the police investigating the police, I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate the conduct of all members involved," said Paul Kennedy, chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, in announcing the investigation.

He said he will look into whether the officers at the scene, as well as those investigating the death, complied with all appropriate policies, procedures and guidelines.

Robert Dziekanski's mother given video of his final moments

November 9, 2007
JUSTINE HUNTER, Globe and Mail

VICTORIA -- Either today or early next week, Zofia Cisowski will sit down in her living room and choose whether to watch a disturbing video that shows her son's final minutes. The mother of 40-year-old Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died Oct. 14 minutes after RCMP officers shocked him with a taser gun, will finally have access to the graphic images of the incident taken by a bystander.

Yesterday, the federal RCMP watchdog formally launched a complaint into the incident, promising an investigation into the use of tasers and into the RCMP's subsequent investigation of its own members' conduct.

Meanwhile, Ms. Cisowski's lawyer was making arrangements yesterday to bring his client a copy of the video, returned this week by the RCMP to the man who captured the images. "It's a horrible situation," her lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, said yesterday. "I said, 'Do you want to see it?' She said, 'I don't, but I do.' These are the last moments of her son." He is still not certain she will press the play button on the video, but he expects the tape to be made public shortly after he gives her a copy.

Mr. Dziekanski, apparently disoriented and unable to communicate in English or French, spent more than 10 hours inside Vancouver International Airport before emerging into a secure area in a rage. The RCMP were called to restrain him, and used the stun gun at least twice. An autopsy has failed to determine what caused Mr. Dziekanski's death. That will likely be decided by a coroner's inquest.

It is unclear what happened after Mr. Dziekanski's flight from Europe arrived. His mother was at the airport waiting to pick him up, but couldn't find him. She said her son spoke no English and had never travelled on an airplane before.

According to court documents, Victoria resident Paul Pritchard videotaped high-quality footage of "Mr. Dziekanski before the arrival of police, during Mr. Dziekanski's interaction with police, and after Mr. Dziekanski was apparently unconscious or deceased on the ground." Mr. Pritchard's lawyer, Paul Pearson, said yesterday his client has agreed to allow Ms. Cisowski to view the tape in her Kamloops home before he makes it public. Mr. Kosteckyj, who has watched the video, said: "You are going to see something that is going to make the Canadian public think this was senseless. Eyewitness testimony can be sometimes inexact. But this is a recorded image that shows you everything." He said he was "horrified" by what he saw. "Within 24 seconds of police arrival, he was tasered the first time."

Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, announced yesterday he will investigate both the conduct of police who fired tasers at Mr. Dziekanski, and the RCMP's criminal investigation into the man's death. The RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is still investigating the airport incident, although the officers involved are still on active duty. Corporal Dale Carr, a spokesman for the team, said yesterday he expects the RCMP investigation to take another 45 days.

Mr. Kennedy, as chairman of the federal agency that provides independent civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in performing their policing duties, said he has raised concerns in the past about police use of tasers. He also has appointed observers to the RCMP's investigation to ensure it is impartial. In an interview yesterday, Mr. Kennedy said he has moved quickly - before the police have finished their own investigation - because of the tremendous public interest. "This one is clearly significant. It looks like a very tragic situation and one that brings to the fore a number of issues we have dealt with in the past," he said.

In his formal notice of complaint, Mr. Kennedy wrote that he will look into "the degree and type of force required by police officers when effecting an arrest and, as in this case, the specific concerns raised in respect of the use of a conducted energy weapon; and the propriety of the police investigating the police."

RCMP to release bystander's taser video

November 2, 2007
IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — Days after legal action was launched against the RCMP, the Mounties say they will release a bystander's video that shows police using a taser on a Polish immigrant who died after the confrontation.

Corporal Dale Carr, a spokesman for the integrated homicide investigation team, made the promise to return the video to Paul Pritchard of Victoria, who launched a legal bid this week to get it back after turning it over voluntarily. Mr. Pritchard said the police had promised to give back the video flashcard within 48 hours of the Oct. 14 incident, but later went back on that pledge.

However, Mr. Pritchard has so little confidence in police that he plans to continue with his court action.

Mr. Pritchard, 25, shot the footage while at the airport en route home after teaching English in China. His lawyer said police have said previously they would return it and didn't

"We've heard this song before," said Paul Pearson, referring to previous promises. "I am optimistic they mean it this time, but excuse Mr. Pritchard's caution after two broken promises that they are now going to give it back to him."

Cpl. Carr said yesterday that the coroner's office, which is planning an inquest into the death of Robert Dziekanski, has decided there is no need to hold on to the footage.

"They said, 'Go ahead and release it. It's fine with us.' "

The officer suggested that Mr. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski of Kamloops, would prefer that the video not be released to the media and thus the public.

Mr. Pritchard has said he would not release the footage without Mrs. Cisowski's permission. "If she doesn't [want it released], that's a whole other story," Mr. Pritchard said yesterday. "Obviously I have got a lot of respect for her, and it's her son here, so I am not stepping on her."

But Mrs. Cisowski said in an interview yesterday that she had not made a decision. She said once she sees the footage, she will discuss her options with her lawyer. "I would like to see this tape very much," she said.

She said she is aware that the public wants to see the video, but has not decided whether she agrees with that. She referred additional queries to her lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj. He said it was his understanding that Mrs. Cisowski wanted the footage released. "The last time I discussed it with her, she thought it would be good if the tape got out, but she has never seen the tape, and so I think it would be premature for her to agree to its release until she sees it," he said.

Mr. Kosteckyj said he has seen the footage, and found it "very disturbing."

"It shows the police actions in great detail," he said, adding the sound "is not particularly great."

"It obviously disturbing because you're watching a man get tasered, and he ends up on the floor and he is, of course, handcuffed and the tape ends before he passes on. But it comes pretty close to the end."

Mr. Dziekanski's fate has caused a maelstrom of controversy in British Columbia and elsewhere, raising questions about the use of tasers in general, the airport's handling of visitors from various countries as the 2010 Winter Olympics approaches and the RCMP's accountability to the public.

Various accounts have suggested Mr. Dziekanski was confused after his first-ever flight, and that there were no available Polish speakers to communicate with him. He did not speak English. He began throwing around chairs and acting erratically after more than 10 hours of processing. After officers used a taser on Mr. Dziekanski, he went into distress and died within minutes despite medical attempts to revive him.

Mr. Pritchard said yesterday from Victoria that he heard one of three Mounties approaching Mr. Dziekanski, 40, and passing by him, he asked a colleague whether he should use the taser even before they reached the scene.

"I thought it was, 'Can I use the taser?' It could have been, 'Should I use the taser?' "

Amid mounting calls from the public and observers for the release of the apparently high-quality footage, Cpl. Carr had also said police feared its release and broadcast by the media would affect the memories of witnesses that investigators hoped to interview.

But he said yesterday that police have interviewed all relevant witnesses at this point and recorded their accounts of the events before Mr. Dziekanski's death.

"That is certainly an issue we deal with in every investigation. People recalls things differently eight months, a year later. That's why we record things as very quickly as we can," he said.

Police say they will soon release video footage of a fatal taser incident at Vancouver airport

November 1, 2007
Jonathan Fowlie and Chantal Eustace, Vancouver Sun

The public could soon see, and hear, exactly what happened in the death of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who died at Vancouver International Airport after being shocked by a police Taser. Despite repeatedly refusing to return a series of privately shot videos of the event, police said today they are now prepared to give the controversial footage back in "the days to come."

"We have hung on to that video a little bit longer than we initially had anticipated," said Corp. Dale Carr, a spokesman for the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Carr's announcement came just hours after the man who made the video told a packed press conference that the police officer who shocked Dziekanski planned to Taser the Polish immigrant before he even arrived on the scene.

"As they [three police officers] ran in I heard one of the officers say 'Can I Taser him?' or 'Should I Taser him' before they actually got to Mr. Dziekanski," said Paul Pritchard, a 25-year-old Victoria man who shot the video while on his way home from China to be with his ailing father.

Pritchard said he gave the videos to police on the understanding they would be returned within 48 hours. He said police have held onto the video, telling him he may not see the footage for up to 2 1/2 years.

On Thursday, Pritchard added that officers did not try any obvious life saving measures after Robert Dziekanski fell to the ground, but instead stood idle as they waited for the paramedics to arrive. "They [the police officers] were kneeling with him and he was handcuffed -- he was on his back," said Pritchard, who filmed the entire exchange and has launched a court battle in an attempt to get his footage back from police. "Nothing was really happening. There was no movement," he added, saying an officer called out "code red" not long after Dziekanski fell to the ground, and that paramedics did not arrive for another five to eight minutes after that point.

Dziekanski died at the Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14 after he was shocked with a Taser and subdued by three RCMP officers.

RCMP refuses to release witness's video of taser death

October 30, 2007
Jonathan Fowlie and Chad Skelton, CanWest News Service

A 25-year-old Victoria man is fighting to get a video back from police that he believes will set the record straight on what happened in the Taser death of Robert Dziekanski. In a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court last week, Paul Pritchard says he lent a series of high-quality videos from the incident to an RCMP officer on the explicit understanding they would be returned within 48 hours. Now, he says, the RCMP are refusing to give the videos back, saying they plan to hold them for up to two-and-a-half years. On Tuesday, Pritchard refused to speak directly to the media, though his lawyer explained he is pursuing the case because he believes the truth should get out.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, died at the Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14 after he was shocked with a Taser and subdued by three RCMP officers.

There is a mixture of frustration that the police are going back on their word and a sense of public duty that he wants the truth to come out about this situation and for the public to receive an accurate representation of what happened," said Pritchard's lawyer Paul Pearson. "He feels the detail level on the video will help with clarifying what happened."

The Polish immigrant did not speak English and was reportedly confused and agitated after two days of travel. Security staff initially found Dziekanski shouting and throwing chairs in the international arrivals area, police have said.

On Tuesday, Pearson said his client witnessed the entire exchange and recorded it on his high-quality digital camera before being asked to hand it over to police. In an interview Tuesday, Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said investigators had returned Pritchard's camera and given him a new memory card, but that they were holding the video to ensure the integrity of the investigation.

"We want to ensure that any future witnesses that we need to interview are able to give us an account of what they saw and not what they learned through video," he said. "We feel this is an important investigation ... and we want to get to the truth of the matter through a fair and unbiased account from any potential witnesses." It is a line of argument a Vancouver defence lawyer said he does not believe. "I don't buy it all," said Mike Tammen, noting police routinely give out their version of events in such incidents.

"In my opinion, certain police agencies in this province rely on the witness-contamination card when it suits their purposes, yet are not shy about releasing things that might potentially contaminate witnesses when that equally suits their purposes."

He also said broadcasting the video could actually help police investigate the incident. "They release video footage of things when they say it will be helpful to them for people to come forward," he said. "If they have good video footage of this incident, what do they have to hide? Why don't they want people coming forward?" Citing a similar argument, Pearson also took issue with Carr's line of reasoning. "They have been releasing multiple pieces of detailed information and I would suggest it is now not fair for them to suggest that the videotape would compromise their investigation when they have been very willing to come forward with accounts of what have happened that seem to justify the use of the Taser on Dziekanski," he said.

Not everyone, however, disagreed with the police. Anthony Sheppard, a law professor at the University of B.C., said police have good reason to fear that release of the footage could harm their investigation. "If this video is released to the media and is shown on the news, prospective witnesses might watch the video and have their recollections ... tampered with," said Sheppard. "Different witnesses may have different impressions of what happened," he said. "And that's what we want. We don't want them all watching the same video and expressing the view recorded by the camera."

For his part Carr held firm, saying the police plan to keep the video until they feel its release would no longer compromise the investigation. At that point, he said, investigators will likely turn it over to the coroner, after which it will likely be returned to Pritchard. "We feel that for the sake of this investigation, for the sake of ... the Dziekanski family that's the best way to handle it," he said. "If we are criticized for doing that, we are prepared to take that criticism," he added.

And in today's Vancouver Sun: We do not advocate any action that might jeopardize the police probe, but we strongly believe it is in the public interest the video be shown. Much more than the reputation of local police officers is at stake. The world is watching.