Tasering of handicapped Quebec man sparks uproar

October 9, 2009
RHÉAL SÉGUIN, Globe and Mail

The tasering of a man with Down syndrome by Quebec City police has created a furor in the province, raising concerns over the appropriate use of the weapon.

The controversy erupted yesterday after it was learned that a 43-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was restrained by police last August with the use of a taser gun. After weeks of hesitation, parents and family members of people living in the same residence came forward to demand an explanation.

Marc Gourdeau, whose daughter lives in the special-care home, couldn't believe that police would use a taser gun in a controlled environment on an unarmed, intellectually handicapped person. No fewer than eight police officers arrived when employees at the home were unable to control the man's erratic behaviour, he said.

Four officers went inside where Mr. Gourdeau's daughter overheard the police warn the man that if he didn't behave he would be tasered. The man, standing alone in a room, was then jolted with the weapon. He was admitted to hospital and later that night was brought back to the residence, Mr. Gourdeau said.

Mr. Gourdeau was convinced that it had never happened before, but later learned it wasn't the first time.

"After learning what had happened at the special-care home where my daughter lives, an employee working at another residence told me that a similar incident occurred there about a year ago," Mr. Gourdeau said. "I want to stop this. I don't want something like this to happen to my daughter."

Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis defended the police's action insisting that the taser gun was never used before in a special-care home, and was only used in "exceptional" circumstances.

"There's one simple truth here: when you don't obey a police officer, you expose yourself to a certain number of things," Mr. Dupuis said in the National Assembly.

"Can the minister at least go back on his declaration to the effect that, in Quebec, when people don't obey [the police], they get electrocuted? Frankly this is totally crazy," said Part Québécois House Leader Stéphane Bédard.

Sitting in the public gallery, Mr. Gourdeau said it was beyond him why the government would stand behind the police's actions. Use of the taser has become an easy way out for police to deal with physically disabled individuals, he said.

"The man had Down syndrome. He may have also been heavily medicated. It's not that he wouldn't obey police orders. He probably couldn't understand them. Here was a man who was completely disoriented," Mr. Gourdeau said in a telephone interview.

Charles Rice, a co-ordinator with a local association defending the rights of the intellectually handicapped, reiterated the call made by several human- rights groups for a moratorium on the use of tasers. "There is too much uncertainty about its use and there have been too many incidences where people have died," Mr. Rice said.

Mr. Rice referred to the death in September, 2007, of Quebec City resident Claudio Castegnetta a few days after being tasered five times by police. Mr. Castagnetta failed to receive potentially life-saving medical attention following his arrest, a coroner's report concluded. His death prompted changes to protocol, which now require police in Quebec to immediately admit to hospital anyone who has been tasered.

About a month later, in October, 2007, 30-year-old Quilem Registre died after Montreal police jolted him six times with a taser in less than a minute.

Winnipeg police changing taser use policy

CJOB News Team reporting
10/8/2009

Winnipeg police will change the way they use the Taser device. Officers had been trained to shoot for the centre of mass, or torso, on a person but are now being told to aim lower, but avoid the groin area.

This follows a recent lawsuit against the makers of the stun gun --Taser International. The lawsuit said medical research concluded it's best to avoid aiming near the heart.

Mike Sutherland, president of the Winnipeg Police Association, says the change puts a bigger strain on officers needing to deploy the devices in volatile and sudden situations.

The use of the Taser has drawn controversy following deaths, including Robert Dziekanski who died after being tasered at the Vancouver Airport in 2007.

Police say the changes are merely a guideline and not a rule set in stone with the goal being to ensure both police and public safety.

Apparently, the city of Calgary instructed its officers on Wednesday to make the changes.

Parti Quebecois wants probe after Taser used on mentally challenged man

October 8, 2009
CBC News

The Parti Québécois is asking for an investigation into the alleged use of a stun gun by Quebec City police on a mentally challenged man living in a group home.

The incident happened Aug. 6 when police were called to a group home where a man with Down syndrome had reportedly become agitated and refused to cooperate with authorities.

The 43-year-old man, identified only as "Martin," received medical treatment and has no apparent lasting effects.

Questioned on the issue by the Opposition in the national assembly, the response from Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis was brusque.

Marc Goudreau, right, says he's concerned about the safety of his daughter, who lives in a group home and is also prone to aggressive episodes. (CBC) "There is a simple truth," he said. "When you don't obey police orders — you are opening yourself to a certain number of things."

Dupuis said Tasers are only used by police "in exceptional cases."

"The idea that when you don't obey police — you get electrocuted — is completely crazy," replied PQ house leader Stéphane Bédard.

The father of a 26-year-old woman who also lives in a group home expressed concern about the case during a news conference organized by the PQ.

"[My] daughter can, because of her syndromes ... have aggressive episodes," said Marc Goudreau.

"My question is — is she the next person who will be Tasered?"

"As parents, we put our children in the care of an institution — we want them to be taken care of," said Goudreau.

Moratorium sought
The Parti Québécois has called for a moratorium on the use of stun guns following a series of Taser-related cases in Quebec that have garnered media attention.

In September 2007, Italian immigrant Claudio Castagnetta died in the custody of Quebec City police after he was struck several times by a stun gun.

The coroner's office ruled Castagnetta's death was the result of self-inflicted wounds, and not the Taser. However, coroner Jean Brochu said authorities waited too long to administer appropriate medical care.

A 38-year-old Montreal man died after being stunned by police in October 2007. The coroner's report into the death of Quilem Registre was highly critical of how police used the Taser, and concluded it might have contributed to his death. Registre, who was described as being highly agitated on the night of his arrest, had cocaine and alcohol in his bloodstream.

In December 2007, Quebec put in place a series of strict rules for the use of Tasers by police, following the tabling of a report by a group of experts commissioned to study the question.

Police in the province are only allowed to use a stun gun when a suspect poses a serious risk to himself, a member of the public or a police officer.

If a suspect is severely agitated, police are expected to call for medical assistance before using any kind of physical force.

Taser video unreliable, Mounties' lawyers say

Brian Hutchinson, National Post
October 08, 2009

Lawyers representing three of the four RCMP officers at the Braidwood inquiry adopted a new line in defence of their clients yesterday: Beware the video.

"The video evidence has limitations," lawyer David Butcher told the inquiry yesterday, as he delivered his final submission before Commissioner Thomas Braidwood. Mr. Butcher represents RCMP Constable Bill Bentley.

"The video has its own frailties," seconded lawyer Ravi Hira, delivering his final submission on behalf of RCMP Constable Kwesi Millington, the officer who jolted Mr. Dziekanski five times with his RCMP-issued Taser weapon at Vancouver International Airport two years ago.

The video "is unreliable," said Reg Harris, who represents Corporal Benjamin Monty Robinson, the senior officer at the scene.

The video, of course, refers to what others believe is the clearest, most impartial piece of evidence presented at the inquiry, being held to examine events that led to Mr. Dziekanski's death at Vancouver's airport.

Were it not for footage of Mr. Dziekanski's encounter with the four RCMP officers, it would have received scant notice. His death would not have caused international outrage.

Without the 10-minute video, made by passerby Paul Pritchard, retired justice Thomas Braidwood would not have been asked to lead a two-phased inquiry and no recommendations about Taser use would have been produced.

The four officers who confronted Mr. Dziekanski might still be on the job at the airport, and not reassigned to desk positions or to the B. C. hinterland.

Indeed, the video had instant value. The inquiry has already heard evidence that the RCMP seized it from Mr. Pritchard at the airport. Senior Mounties tried to keep the video from him, and from the public; it took a judge's order to force police to return it. Mr. Pritchard then shared the video with the media.

Mr. Butcher told the inquiry yesterday he wished his client had been able to view the video prior to the inquiry. "That would have been helpful," Mr. Butcher said. The video would have improved his client's accuracy.

While Const. Bentley gave "generally reliable" evidence to investigators, he did, unintentionally, make one mistake, said his lawyer.

In a statement to investigators, Const. Bentley said he and his fellow officers had wrestled a defiant and fighting Mr. Dziekanski to the ground; this, after the 40-year-old Pole had already been zapped once with the Taser.

The Pritchard video proves Mr. Dziekanski was toppled by a Taser jolt. The officers grappled with him on the floor. He was zapped several more times.

But Mr. Butcher also warned that the video is flawed. Mr. Harris gave a similar assessment. Unlike a human, this "video witness" lacks depth perception, he said. The camera Mr. Pritchard used is not still; it moves from side to side and up and down.

Closing submissions continue today.

Taser maker issues new guidelines

This diagram from Taser International's website shows the new target area for Taser use.

October 7, 2009
CTV Calgary

A company that makes Tasers has issued new guidelines to police who use their product.

Taser International maintains its devices are safe but is telling police to avoid aiming the weapon at a suspect's chest.

On Wednesday those new rules were passed onto Calgary police.

"We have released a new directive, relative to Taser targeting, to our members and this follows a training bulletin that Taser International released," says SSgt. Chris Butler from the Calgary Police Service.

The bulletin, which is posted on Taser International's website, includes a diagram showing the new target areas on a suspect's body.

The bulletin instructs police: "when possible, avoiding chest shots with ECDS avoids the controversy about whether ECD's do, or do not, affect the human heart."

"The rationale from Taser in their training bulletin is that the new medical research that is coming out is showing that the closer probe to heart distances have a likelihood, or a possibility, that they may affect the rhythm of the heart," says SSgt. Butler.

CTV Calgary tried to contact Taser International for an interview but, so far, it has not responded.

Officer right to stun Dziekanski: lawyer

The RCMP officer who fired his Taser five times within seconds of confronting Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport did everything right, his lawyer said Wednesday at the inquiry into the man's death.

In his final submission to the inquiry, Ravi Hira said Const. Kwesi Millington was justified both when he used the Taser after Dziekanski picked up a stapler, and when he pulled the trigger four more times as the Polish immigrant screamed and writhed on the airport floor.

"In his dealings with Mr. Dziekanski, Const. Millington acted in accordance with his training," said Hira.

"Const. Millington acted appropriately and did not misconduct himself in any way."

The four officers involved in Dziekanski's death have been accused of acting too quickly and using too much force when they confronted him in the early morning of Oct. 14, 2007.

They have also been accused at the inquiry of covering up what happened by lying to investigators and at the hearings.

All of those allegations have the potential to make it into Commissioner Thomas Braidwood's final report if he concludes the officers acted improperly and makes findings of misconduct. He has warned the four Mounties that he's leaving that option open.

The officers were called to the airport after witnesses phoned 911 to report a man throwing luggage and breaking glass, and Hira said Millington arrived to find a man who appeared to be agitated.

'Perceived combative behaviour'
He said Millington calmly approached Dziekanski and used hand signals in an attempt to calm him down and ask for identification, but without success.

Then, Dziekanski picked up a stapler.

"Const. Millington perceived the male intended to attack, and perceived his behaviour as combative — this was a reasonable perception," said Hira.

"Const. Millington perceived the male was a threat to the officers and deployed the Taser."

Hira also defended the subsequent stuns. The Taser was fired five times, but Millington testified earlier that he didn't believe all were effective and he couldn't even remember the fifth.

The lawyer said Dziekanski was fighting back as officers tried to subdue him.

"He perceived that the male was kicking, fighting and struggling with the officers," said Hira.

'A fast-moving situation'
Hira cited police use-of-force experts who appeared at the inquiry, saying Millington's actions were appropriate, and he spoke at length about the accuracy of Millington's statements to homicide investigators, his notebook entries and an internal report about his Taser use.

Many of the same mistakes were made by several or all of the officers, including that Dziekanski came at the officers with the stapler raised above his head, stood through the first Taser jolt and had to be tackled to the ground. They have been held up as proof the officers lied.

Hira said the officers themselves were more equivocal about those facts than has been reported, acknowledging at times that they weren't sure. He also pointed out that other witnesses at the airport had similar recollections.

He said those discrepancies don't mean the officers or anyone else lied.

"This was a fast-moving and stressful situation for the witnesses, they had certain perceptions and observations, some of them had different perceptions than the video," he said.

Stapler use not clear
And other aspects of the confrontation, particularly what exactly Dziekanski was doing with the stapler, are obscured in the video because his back is to the camera.

He noted that, like the officers, several witnesses with a better view of the confrontation also remembered Dziekanski swinging the stapler, even if the officers now acknowledge it wasn't above his head.

"Some caution ought to be applied with regard to the use of the video and not, as suggested, that that is the end of it all," he said.

Crown prosecutors decided not to lay charges against Millington, Const. Bill Bentley, Const. Gerry Rundel and Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, saying they acted with reasonable force in the circumstances.

RCMP lawyer refers to Dziekanski as a 'whackjob'

VANCOUVER - A distraught Zofia Cisowski struggled to keep her emotions in check as her son, Robert Dziekanski, was picked apart at the Braidwood inquiry.

Ravi Hira, the lawyer for Const. Kwesi Millington, stressed witness accounts that paint Dziekanski as a "whackjob" and an "unusual passenger" and made constant reference to potential alcoholism.

"It's relevant to perhaps the cause of death. It's relevant to perhaps his actions. It's relevant to why he acted the way he did," Hira said after commissioner Thomas Braidwood questioned his approach during closing submissions.

All the while, a heartbroken Cisowski twisted and turned in her seat at every remark and had to be restrained at times by her victims' services handler.

"Oh my God," she cried. "Oh my gosh."

Public observers at the inquiry offered their support to the grieving mother, who confessed listening to the remarks was "so upsetting."

Hira submitted that Millington acted exactly how he was trained to during the incident and not findings of misconduct can be made against him.

"The overwhelming weight of the evidence regarding training support the actions of officer Millington," Hira said. "I respectfully submit Const. Millington acted properly and professionally."

Closing submissions continue.

Lawyer alleges conspiracy at B. C. Taser probe

October 7, 2009
Brian Hutchinson, National Post

The four RCMP officers who confronted Polish traveller Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in 2007 had conspired, in a "self-serving collaboration," to "fabricate an untruthful version of events," the lawyer alleged.

They covered up and lied, claimed Mr. Rosenbloom, appearing at the inquiry for the Government of the Republic of Poland. The four officers "misled" homicide investigators following the incident, he continued. They created an "almost identical and fictional account" of their ill-fated interaction with Mr. Dziekanski, who died during the encounter.

They "lied under oath" at this inquiry, claimed Mr. Rosenbloom, in "an intentional act to subvert the course of justice."

Police conspiracy. Perjury. These are the boldest allegations heard to date at the inquiry called to examine events that led to Mr. Dziekanski's death.

Mr. Rosenbloom wasn't finished. He asked inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood to make findings of misconduct against all four officers, plus three other RCMP officers who, he alleged, either suppressed information about the airport fatality or "deliberately or negligently disseminated false information" about the event to media.

A 40-year-old Pole, Mr. Dziekanski landed in Vancouver on Oct. 14, 2007. Perhaps frustrated by an inability to communicate with airport workers and border officials, some of whom displayed indifference, and angry after a shouting match with an airport limo driver, Mr. Dziekanski caused a disturbance at an airport arrivals area.

The four RCMP officers were called; within seconds, an officer deployed a Taser at Mr. Dziekanski, hitting him once with an electrical charge. He was wrestled with on the ground and was shocked four more times with the Taser. His hands were cuffed behind his back and he soon died.

Mr. Rosenbloom alleged the four officers displayed a "reckless disregard for the care and safety of Mr. Dziekanski" by not providing him with proper medical assistance at the scene.

The lawyer also called into question a closing submission made to the inquiry by the Government of Canada, on behalf of the RCMP.

It suggested that Constable Kwesi Millington, the officer who deployed the Taser on Mr. Dziekanski multiple times, acted with justification because his target had "remained upright, moving away from the officers" after being struck the first time.

"I challenge that," Mr. Rosenbloom said. He referred to a videotape of the incident, made by airport passerby Paul Pritchard.

Mr. Rosenbloom said the video evidence showed Mr. Dziekanski "was in the process of a free fall" after the first Taser deployment. There was no reason to jolt him once, let alone four more times, he said.

Lawyers for the Government of Canada chose not to deliver their closing submissions orally; they provided only written submissions that are available for viewing at the Braidwood Inquiry website along with other closing submissions ( www.braidwoodinquiry.ca).

Lawyers for two of the four RCMP officers delivered their closing submissions yesterday.

Allegations made in the morning by Mr. Rosenbloom were "irresponsible," argued Ted Beaubier, who represents RCMP Constable Gerry Rundel at the inquiry. "They pander to emotions. [They are] inflammatory and, I say, reckless."

The evidence does not support them, submitted Mr. Beaubier. He reminded the inquiry that the conduct of each officer must be examined separately.

Const. Rundel was a junior RCMP officer the night that Mr. Dziekanski died. He acted in the role of a "cover man," not a "contact man," during the confrontation, said Mr. Beaubier, and he had little if any direct interaction Mr. Dziekanski.

The officer did make statements to homicide investigators after the incident that did not conform to events, but there was no intention to mislead. Rather, there were errors in memory, said his lawyer.

The four officers had not formulated a plan to Taser Mr. Dziekanski before they entered the airport, as suggested previously at the inquiry. The notion is "beyond ridiculous," Mr. Beaubier said. They had no time to devise such a plot, he said. Any planning would have been recorded or overheard; none was. There was no conspiracy, he added.

"Are there officers that would lie" in an attempt to mitigate their roles in a contentious in-custody death? "Probably," he said. Would his client? "Exceedingly unlikely."

There should be no finding of misconduct against Const. Rundel, he concluded.

Representing RCMP Constable Bill Bentley, lawyer David Butcher took a similar tack. His client was "the most junior officer" at the time of the incident, he submitted to the inquiry yesterday. While his role "was limited," he faces allegations "that could destroy a reputation."

Mr. Butcher went on to cite case law, and expert witness evidence presented at the inquiry that was favourable to his client. Const. Bentley might have made errors in his notes and in his statements to investigators, but there was no cover-up.

Mr. Butcher submitted that Mr. Dziekanski had behaved in bizarre fashion before he died. He might have caused damage inside the airport had police not responded to complaints about him, Mr. Butcher said. "He was certainly arrest-able."

More closing submissions from RCMP lawyers will be heard today.

No cover-up in taser incident, lawyers contend

October 7, 2009
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

Lawyers for two of four Mounties involved in a fatal 2007 confrontation with Robert Dziekanski yesterday began fighting back against suggestions their clients were abusive police officers who conspired to taser the Polish immigrant and then covered up their plan.

The Braidwood inquiry into Mr. Dziekanski's death has heard closing arguments this week from lawyers for parties ranging from Mr. Dziekanski's mother to the Polish government and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

The arguments had all come from police critics - until yesterday.

David Butcher, the lawyer for Constable Bill Bentley, dismissed suggestions the four officers failed to take time to come up with a plan for dealing with Mr. Dziekanski when they entered the international arrivals area of Vancouver airport early on Oct. 14, 2007, where the recently arrived Polish national was acting erratically.

Had police taken time to speak to witnesses, and otherwise delay, Mr. Dziekanski might have attacked a traveller or airport employee, Mr. Butcher told Thomas Braidwood, the retired B.C. appeal-court justice in charge of the process.

"There would, in such circumstances, have been legitimate outcry that the police had failed to act in their duty to, quickly enough, protect the public."

He said police were facing a challenging situation on arrival.

"Bentley and the other officers were confronted with an irrational, agitated, exhausted, aggressive and frightened man who had lost his senses somewhere during his long journey from Poland, who could not understand police directions and could not make himself understood," he said, painting a chaotic picture.

"He quickly became aggressive towards the police, who responded equally quickly in the way that their training had taught them was the best response in these sorts of circumstances."

In any event, he said, his client was a relatively junior officer following the orders of Corporal Benjamin Robinson. "It was not Bentley's responsibility or role to command the police presence or direct the other officers," he said.

Mr. Butcher also disputed allegations his client and the other officers were involved in some kind of cover-up - a suspicion that has been fuelled by the admission of a senior B.C. Mountie in an e-mail that another high-ranking officer told him the officers went into the situation planning to taser Mr. Dziekanski.

Mr. Dziekanski, 40, had arrived in Canada to begin a new life with his mother, who had come to the airport to meet him. Instead, he was tasered five times over 30 seconds and handcuffed. He died of cardiac arrest that has not been specifically linked to the use of the stun gun.

The e-mail, disclosed earlier in the summer, prompted the disclosure of 18,000 pages of evidence to the inquiry, but no other documents have turned up supporting the e-mail's suggestions. Its author stands by his report. Two other senior Mounties, including the officer quoted in the document, have said it is not accurate.

"There's not a single piece of paper to support that assertion," Mr. Butcher said of the allegations of an advance plan.

Ted Beaubier, the lawyer for Constable Gerry Rundel, said the officers did not have time to come up with a plan to taser Mr. Dziekanski because they received the report of trouble at the airport, proceeded directly to their vehicles and travelled, without stops, to the airport.

He also noted the incident involving Mr. Dziekanski was not so complicated or unusual for police officers that it required detailed preplanning.

"This is not a situation that should have caused any particular difficulty for the officers. Did it require preplanning? No."

Niagara Regional Police abandon thoughts of appeal in Taser case

October 6, 2009
Posted By Karena Walter, St. Catharine's Standard

Niagara Regional Police have decided not to go through with an appeal to try and overturn a civil ruling that found officers at fault for Tasering a St. Catharines man multiple times.

A notice of appeal filed by the NRP with the Ontario Court of Appeal after the July ruling claimed there were at least 15 errors made by the judge in the Michael Parsons case.

They included that the judge drew “unwarranted negative inferences against the officers.”

Thirty-year-old Parsons was awarded $50,000 after suing the police service and five officers for negligence, false arrest, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But this week, the police service said it has reached a decision not to pursue an appeal.

Sgt. Jacquie Forgeron said the NRP filed a notice of appeal in August in order to preserve the right to appeal while it carefully considered whether or not to pursue an appeal.

The service has now reached a decision, in consultation with the Region’s legal services, not to pursue an appeal, she said in an e-mail.

“After considering all of the issues both legal and financial a decision was made not to pursue the appeal.”

Parsons’ civil lawyer Margaret Hoy said she has been informed the NRP will not go ahead with the case.

Parsons was the passenger in a Jeep stopped by police on Dec. 28, 2003 on Lundy’s Lane on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. He testified he was pulled out of the vehicle, choked, pulled into a ditch and Tasered 10 to 15 times in retaliation for yelling “Hey Baby” out the window at police.

After a civil trial in Welland in March, Judge Raymond Harris sided with Parsons, saying each of the officers “abused their position of authority in a manner which cannot be condoned.”

The NRP said it has dealt with the matter internally with the involved officers and are satisfied that the matter may be considered closed.

RCMP officers lied to B.C. Taser inquiry: Lawyer

VANCOUVER — The lawyer for the Polish government told the inquiry probing the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport that the RCMP officers involved lied to the inquiry as "an intentional act to subvert justice."

At the inquiry Tuesday, Don Rosenbloom urged commissioner Thomas Braidwood to find misconduct against the four officers in the October 2007 Tasering incident, as well as their boss RCMP Supt. Wayne Rideout.

After Dziekanski died on the airport floor, the four officers collaborated to fabricate their testimony in police statements, he said.

Rosenbloom said it was troubling that each of the officers had almost identical accounts of what happened, which proved to be untrue.

The officers' initial statements said Dziekanski was yelling after police arrived, he was agitated, resisted police commands and grabbed a stapler and began swinging it wildly at the officers.

"All these statements are untrue," Rosenbloom told the inquiry.

He said the RCMP then released incorrect information immediately after the incident, telling the public that Dziekanski was Tasered only twice by three officers, instead of five times by four officers.

"The RCMP deliberately and negligently disseminated this misinformation and chose not to correct the record for more than a year," Rosenbloom said.

The four Mounties showed a "callous disregard" for Dziekanski's life, he said.

The 40-year-old Polish immigrant "was a victim of incompetence, misconduct and a reckless disregard of his life."

Rosenbloom told the inquiry that the RCMP officers had no justification for Tasering Dziekanski five times.

It was also inexcusable that the lead Mountie, Cpl. Monty Robinson, put his knee on the back of Dziekanski's neck for 24 seconds, the lawyer said.

This caused him to lose consciousness, said Rosenbloom.

The four officers failed to provide proper medical care and adequate monitoring of his vital signs, he added.

"Every second counted," Rosenbloom told the inquiry.

Police were called to the airport after a report of a man throwing around luggage.

Dziekanski, who spoke no English, spent 10 hours at the airport looking for his mother, but the two never connected.

His mother returned home to Kamloops when officials told her that her son couldn't be found.

"Everything that could go wrong in the 11 hours at the airport, did go wrong," Rosenbloom said.

"If not for all the indifference, he would still be alive today," he added.

Proposed civilian unit to look into police not all it seems

October 6, 2009
Gary Mason, Globe and Mail

It sounded so promising.

The RCMP and chiefs of municipal police forces in British Columbia holding a joint news conference to call for the unthinkable: an independent, civilian-run unit to investigate police-involved deaths and other serious allegations against officers.

A year ago they were all against it.

Finally, they seemed to be acknowledging what a growing number of observers had been saying in recent years: The public no longer trusted police to investigate themselves.

It was time to hand over probes of these often sensitive and highly charged cases to a neutral, civilian task force.

Except that's not what the Mounties and police chiefs are calling for.

Under their proposal, police officers would continue to do the investigating of any police-involved death.

The difference would be, they would then hand over their findings to a civilian authority, instead of to their bosses.

Sorry, but that doesn't cut it.

The public's misgivings result from the many reports of instances where police, willfully or otherwise, carried out wholly deficient investigations of fellow officers.

By the time many of the problems with these investigations surfaced, it was too late to do much about it.

The crime scene had long since been contaminated. Witnesses were dead. And the officers involved had time to construct a story that jibed with the evidence at hand.

I'm not saying this happens all the time.

But it's happened enough that it's created the massive distrust of police-led investigations into police that exists today.

Even some senior police officers recognize this.

To that point, it was beyond ironic that at the inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski this week, the superintendent in charge of the RCMP investigation into the matter stunned the courtroom by admitting the Mounties should not be investigating themselves.

"We're not good at it ... we shouldn't be doing this," Superintendent Wayne Rideout said.

No kidding. And the Dziekanski case is a prime example of that.

The four officers involved gave initial statements to investigators that were completely contradicted by video evidence from the scene that surfaced shortly after. Yet the officers were never asked to explain or account for the discrepancies. E-mails vanished. Seniors officers gave conflicting accounts of internal discussions about what happened.

It was a complete farce.

In B.C., there is a long list of cases - from Ian Bush to Kevin St. Arnaud, both shot and killed by RCMP officers under questionable circumstances - where police investigations raised more questions than answers.

I think the joint RCMP-police chiefs proposal is a pre-emptive strike. I think the two groups know what's coming and they're trying to cut that off at the pass. And what's coming, hopefully, is a full-fledged, independent investigative unit, made up of trained civilians. It would be similar to Ontario's Special Investigations Unit and the Independent Investigation Unit being set up in Manitoba, and arms-length investigative forces sprouting up around the world.

Having said that, a chat yesterday with Kash Heed, B.C.'s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor-General, didn't fill me with confidence that a bold move on this front is going to happen any time soon.

Mr. Heed sounded every bit the politician when I asked him his view on this subject. He kept repeating: All I want is the most accountable, transparent and effective policing in Canada. But he wouldn't say where he stood on civilian oversight.

A recently retired police chief himself, Mr. Heed said he didn't want to prejudge anything Thomas Braidwood, the head of the Dziekanski, has to say on the subject. Sounds like someone trying to buy himself some time.

I will be shocked if Mr. Braidwood, a former judge whose handling of the inquiry has been nothing short of brilliant, doesn't recommend that police get out of the business of investigating themselves. And as soon as possible. He has seen up close why it shouldn't happen and his final report in Mr. Dziekanski's death will be a scathing indictment of one of those investigations.

The B.C. government already has a report in its hands that recommends independent civilian oversight. It comes from former Supreme Court justice William Davies, who recently looked into the death of homeless alcoholic Frank Paul, who died in December, 1988, after being dumped in an alley by Vancouver police.

Mr. Davies said police should stop investigating themselves because there is an inherent conflict of interest when they do. Paul Kennedy, head of the federal Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, has recently come to the same conclusion.

If Mr. Braidwood ultimately adds his name to that list, the B.C. government will have no choice but to accept his recommendation. To do otherwise would provoke a public outcry the B.C. government can ill afford.

RCMP actions 'gratuitous, 'violent,' lawyer tells inquiry

October 6, 2009
CBC News

Final arguments began Monday at the public inquiry in Vancouver into the death of a man who was stunned several times by an RCMP Taser at the Vancouver airport almost two years ago.

The inquiry, led by retired justice Thomas Braidwood, is examining how Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski succumbed after being shot with an electronic stun gun five times by RCMP officers and left handcuffed face down on the floor of the arrivals lounge of the airport.

In his final submission to the inquiry Monday, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, Walter Kosteckyj, said the police failed to take the time to do their job properly. He said it took the RCMP officers less than 30 seconds after first meeting Dziekanski before they fired the Taser at him.

"The tasering of Mr. Dziekanski, at its best, would be characterized as premature, hurried and panicked response. And at the worst was a premeditated and planned attack," Kosteckyj said.

It was clear that Dziekanski went down, writhing in pain, after being hit by the stun gun just once. Using the weapon on the man repeatedly after that initial shot was stepping over the line, Kosteckyj said.

"The third, fourth and fifth deployments were gratuitous, unnecessary and were violent," the lawyer said.

Kostekyj also told the inquiry the RCMP in B.C. should be replaced with a provincial police force.

He said the RCMP already act as the provincial police force in B.C., but doesn't want to be held accountable to the provincial legislature.

The RCMP officers involved in Dziekanski's death, Const. Bill Bentley, Const. Gerry Rundel, Const. Kwesi Millington and Cpl. Benjamin Robinson, have already claimed the provincial inquiry has no jurisdiction over them, and Kosteckyj expects the federal government will make the same argument in its final submissions.

Final statements were expected to continue through Thursday.

The final report by commissioner Thomas Braidwood is expected early next year.

Poland seeks 'significant findings of misconduct' in taser case

October 6, 2009
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

Poland’s government wants the Braidwood inquiry to make “significant findings of misconduct” against the four Mounties who tasered Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in a 2007 confrontation that led to his death.

Poland’s Vancouver-based lawyer made the request in closing submissions Monday to inquiry head Thomas Braidwood, who is probing the death of Mr. Dziekanski on Oct. 14, 2007.

Don Rosenbloom accused the police of “blatant” wrongdoing, suggesting there was no need to taser Mr. Dziekanski, and that the four Mounties involved cooked their accounts of the incident, which has prompted an enduring debate about the police use of stun guns.

“Mr. Commissioner. It takes a strong nation to have the courage to microscopically examine such deep problems within its institutions, but as painful as the incident might be, society is strengthened by engaging in such proceedings,” Mr. Rosenbloom said as lawyers for at least 14 other parties looked on in the hearing room.

“No nation should pretend it is immune from institutional failure, whether it be the police forces or otherwise. Poland wishes to praise Canada and British Columbia for pursuing such an exhaustive and courageous examination of the incident.”

The praise was echoed in a letter from Piotr Ogrodzinski, Poland’s ambassador to Canada, that Mr. Rosenbloom read to the inquiry. Mr. Ogrodzinski saluted the B.C. government for launching the Braidwood inquiry, and Mr. Braidwood for welcoming Mr. Rosenbloom.

But the ambassador acknowledged disappointment that the Crown decided in December, 2008, not to lay criminal charges against the four Mounties.

There is an instinctive reaction among viewers who have seen the widely viewed bystander’s video of Mr. Dziekanski’s fatal confrontation “that justice must be achieved, responsibility determined and wrong-doers be made accountable through criminal prosecution,” he wrote.

Mr. Rosenbloom was far more blunt than Poland’s top diplomat.

“We are inviting a finding from this commission that absolutely no force was called for in these circumstances. It’s our position that Mr. Dziekanski had been unnecessarily subjected to tasering; the officers showed a callous disregard for his medical condition as he lay dying on the floor and their indifference was neither in conformity with police standards nor basic humanity,” he said.

“We ask that there are significant findings of misconduct in respect to the action of the four officers.”

He added: “There was blatant police wrongdoing at the scene, compounded by the officers untruthful reporting of the incident, both in their police statements and here at the inquiry. Additionally there were misjudgments of senior officers and an unwillingness by the RCMP at the highest level to acknowledge error.”

Lawyers for the four officers will have an opportunity to make their own closing submissions later this week.

Mr. Dziekanski drew the attention of police when he began acting erratically after a long flight from Canada to Poland and an hours-long wait to hook up with his mother, a Kamloops resident waiting to meet him so he could begin a new life in Canada.

When the 40-year-old labourer, who did not speak any English, picked up a stapler in a manner police deemed threatening, he was stunned five times and cuffed. He died of a cardiac arrest that was not officially linked to the taser.

Walter Kosteckyj, a lawyer for Mr. Dziekanski’s mother Zofia Cisowski, said the case needs to be reopened by the B.C. Attorney-General. Mike de Jong has ruled out such action until he has a chance to review Mr. Braidwood’s eventual report.

Dziekanski's death caused by RCMP excessive force and systemic failure, inquiry told

October 5, 2009
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - The death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport was caused by excessive use of force by the RCMP and a failure of the system to guide the visitor, the Braidwood inquiry was told Monday.

In his final submission, lawyer Walter Kosteckyj, representing Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, urged the inquiry commissioner, Thomas Braidwood, to recommend that the RCMP's use-of-force training model to be scrapped.

He also urged the commissioner to recommend that a provincial police force be created to replace the use of the RCMP in B.C.

"There has to be a recommendation that a provincial police force must be put in place," Kosteckyj said.

He added the RCMP "by not being answerable to the (provincial) legislature is undemocratic."

The commissioner has the authority to find fault and make recommendations to the provincial government in his report.

Dziekanski, 40, died at about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 14, 2007 at Vancouver International Airport after he was Tasered five times and restrained by four Mounties..

The weary traveller had arrived at the airport about 10 hours earlier after a long flight from Poland.

He had come to Canada to live with his mother and start a new life.

His mother had told her son to stay in the baggage carousel area and she would meet him there.

She didn't realize it, but the international arrivals baggage carousel was in a secure area, not accessible to people waiting for loved ones in the greeting lounge.

Dziekanski, who spoke no English, stayed in the secure area for about eight hours and never connected with his mother, who eventually returned home to Kamloops after being told her son could not be found.

Part of the systemic failure, Kosteckyj said, was the failure to get Dziekanski an interpreter.

"We were told how easy it was to get translation services," the lawyer said.

"An interpreter should have assisted Dziekanski."

A Canada Border Services Agency employee noticed Dziekanski walking around the customs area - about eight hours after he was initially processed - and led him to the exit to the public area.

Dziekanski, appearing exhausted and unable to find his mother, became frustrated and started throwing around furniture and threw a computer on the floor, prompting a 911 call to police.

"He had been traveling in excess of 30 hours and had no idea where his family was," Kosteckyj said.

He added that a citizen started yelling at Dziekanski, who got mad and threw things around.

Four officers arrived and gave Dziekanski conflicting orders - one told him to produce his papers, but when he tried to get his passport from his luggage, another officer told him not to go into his baggage and ordered the man to stand over by a counter.

Dziekanski threw up his arms and grabbed a stapler, which the police took as a threatening move.

"Mr. Dziekanski was having an emotional crisis and these police officers should have been able to see that," Kosteckyj said.

He added police should have tried to defuse and resolve the situation without using force.

Just before one of the officers deployed his stun gun, Dziekanski said in Polish: "Have you lost your mind?"

They were his final words.

Dziekanski fell down and began writhing on the floor when he was first Tasered for five seconds.

Police initially thought Dziekanski was resisting arrest, but the inquiry was told that Const. Kwesi Millington, the officer with the Taser, kept pulling the trigger four more times, causing Dziekanski's muscles to contract.

"I submit to you that the third, fourth and fifth deployments were gratuitous and unnecessary," Kosteckyj said.

He added that once police had handcuffed Dziekanski's hands behind his back, police failed to properly care for the man while in custody.

One officer testified Dziekanski turned blue and his breathing sounded like he was snoring.

But the officer who testified he was monitoring Dziekanski's breathing and pulse said he didn't see the man turn blue.

"How is it possible to be monitoring someone turning blue and not notice it?" Kosteckyj asked.

He estimated Dziekanski was unconscious for about six minutes before the ambulance arrived.

Firefighters, who were first on the scene, believed Dziekanski was dead when he was examined.

One of the firefighters was also critical of police refusing to remove the handcuffs from Dziekanski so he could be properly assessed.

Final submissions by lawyers continue today and all this week.

B.C. must replace RCMP with provincial force, Dziekanski inquiry told

October 5, 2009
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The lawyer for Robert Dziekanski's mother says the B.C. government should replace the RCMP with a provincial police force.

Dziekanski died nearly two years ago at Vancouver's airport after he was shocked with a Taser by four Mounties.

In his final submission at a public inquiry into the death, lawyer Walter Kosteckyj says the RCMP acts as the provincial police force in British Columbia, but doesn't want to be held accountable to the provincial legislature.

The RCMP officers themselves have claimed the provincial inquiry has no jurisdiction over them.

And Kosteckyj says the government of Canada will make the same argument in its final submissions this week.

He says that's undemocratic, and the only solution is to stop using the Mounties in B.C. and instead create a province-wide force.

Braidwood Inquiry

Closing Submissions (Subject To Change)
NOTE: Closing Submissions will commence at 10:00 a.m. each day

Monday, October 5, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009

If necessary, hearings will resume on Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Order of Participants:
Walt Kosteckyj for Ms. Cisowski
Grace Pastine for BCCLA
Don Rosenbloom for the Government of the Republic of Poland
Mitch Taylor, Q.C./Jan Brongers for the Government of Canada
Ted Beaubier for Cst. Rundel
David Butcher for Cst. Bentley
Ravi Hira, Q.C. for Cst. Millington
Reg Harris for Cpl. Robinson
Joe Doyle for Sgt. Lemaitre
David Crossin, Q.C. for Cpl. Carr
Alexander Pringle for Supt. Rideout
Dwight Stewart for YVR
Chris Buchanan for PSAC
David Neave for TASER International
James Goulden for the City of Richmond

Edmonton Police Reject Taser Cams

September 5, 2009
Travis Dosser, inews 880

Edmonton Police have rejected the idea of new video-equipped tasers, which would record audio and video each time a taser is used.

Last year EPS announced it would test the video-equipped tasers, however authorities say the tests didn't produce the results they wanted, according to Global Edmonton.

The reason the results didn't go the way they wanted was because, the number of issues the new equipment had, was not worth the 400 dollar price tag for each.

The Taser Cam, attaches to the Taser X26 which city police already use, the video from the camera is often obstructed and the audio is muffled because of the Officers standard two handed grip.

The battery pack on the new unit is also prone to failure in some weather conditions, a problem that is not acceptable.

RCMP, airport, customs under scrutiny as final arguments at Taser inquiry begin

October 4, 2009
By James Keller, Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The story of Robert Dziekanski's final hours, spent in Vancouver's airport after a long flight from Poland and unable to speak to anyone around him, has many characters.

There are, of course, the four Mounties who were called to the international terminal early one morning in October 2007 after Dziekanski started throwing furniture.

Seconds later, one of them fired his Taser. And minutes after that, the Polish man was dead.

But the list of players includes many others - airport staff, customs officers, firefighters, paramedics and the Taser itself - and all of them will be under scrutiny as lawyers present their final arguments this week at a public inquiry.

The lawyer representing Dziekanski's mother will start his final submissions on Monday, and while Walter Kosteckyj will have plenty to say about the RCMP, he says there's lots of blame to go around.

"The overview of what I'm going to talk about are all the opportunities that were lost to deal with Mr. Dziekanski right from the get-go," Kosteckyj said in an interview.

"The RCMP were the last ones to show up, and they certainly bear a lot of responsibility, but . . . it's just systematic failure."

Dziekanski is the central figure of this story, a Polish construction worker who didn't speak English moving to Canada to start a new life with his mother, Zofia Cisowski.

Cisowski is another, coming to the airport to pick up her son and waiting for hours. She was eventually told he wasn't there, and she drove home to Kamloops, B.C.

The four RCMP officers have also become main characters - and critics would say the antagonists - after stunning Dziekanski several times with a Taser within seconds of arriving at the scene.

The officers said Dziekanski was threatening them with a stapler; others have accused them during the inquiry of lying to cover up their actions.

Their lawyers will argue this week that they were simply doing their jobs, albeit with deadly consequences. They were not charged.

"The officers acted in accordance with their training," said Ravi Hira, who represents the officer who fired the Taser.

"It's a tragic outcome, but the evidence is clear in that regard."

However, a large supporting cast fills the space before and after the officers' arrival.

Customs officers failed to notice Dziekanski as he sat for hours in a secure customs hall, and never called a translator when he finally emerged. It was a customs officer, as well, who advised Dziekanski's mother to leave.

That was after airport staff told Cisowski they couldn't tell her anything about her son because of privacy laws.

Once the Taser was used, airport supervisors broke protocol by not calling the facility's own firefighters or bringing an automatic defibrillator to the scene after Dziekanski was stunned.

Firefighters raised doubts about whether the officers or anyone else monitored Dziekanski's condition after he collapsed on the floor. And others raised questions about the firefighters' performance.

Then there is the Taser, the controversial stun gun that has been the subject of fierce debate since Dziekanski's fatal confrontation with police, and the conflicting medical evidence about whether it played a role in the man's death.

There were many witnesses, members of the public who found themselves at the airport that morning, including one who shot a video of the confrontation that has been played countless times around the world.

Over the next week, lawyers for all of the parties involved will each have a chance to tell their version of that story to commissioner Thomas Braidwood.

After that, Braidwood will decide where the truth lies and make recommendations to prevent future tragedies.

"It's been a long case," said Art Vertlieb, a lawyer for the inquiry.

"To be sure to know what the key issues are is always a challenge, to avoid getting lost in the woods."

It's been almost two years to the day since Dziekanski's death - the second anniversary is next week - but the story is not over yet.

Braidwood's final report is likely months away, and there are still other proceedings related to the inquiry.

Three of the officers are asking the B.C. Court of Appeal to bar the commissioner from alleging misconduct against them. The B.C. Supreme Court rejected their case earlier this year.

And Taser International is challenging the report from the first phase of Braidwood's inquiry, held last year and broadly examining Taser use in B.C. In his report, Braidwood concluded Tasers can kill.

Niagara Regional Police launch appeal in civil Taser case

October 3, 2009
KARENA WALTER, ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD

A civil judgment that found Niagara Regional Police officers abused their authority and "flouted the law" by Tasering a St. Catharines man multiple times is being appealed by police.

In documents filed with the Court of Appeal in Toronto, the police service's lawyer argues Judge Raymond Harris drew "unwarranted conclusions on factual issues" when he made his June 29 ruling awarding Michael Parsons $50,000.

The notice of appeal also claims the judge drew "unwarranted negative inferences against the officers."

It asks the judgment be set aside and the case dismissed.

Parsons sued the police service and five individual officers for negligence, false arrest, assault, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the Dec. 18, 2003 confrontation.

His trial was held in in Welland Superior Court in March.

Parsons, who was known to police, was a passenger in a Jeep driven by his fiancee on Lundy's Lane, on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. He testified he yelled "Hey Baby" out the window at an officer he recognized and police pulled the Jeep over a short time later.

Parsons testified he was unarmed when he was dragged out of the Jeep onto the ground and assaulted, choked, pulled into a ditch and Tasered 10 to 15 times.

He was charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest, but those charges were later withdrawn by the Crown.

Officers testified Parsons was hanging out of the Jeep window from the waist up, justifying the vehicle stop, but Harris questioned why none of them recorded that observation in their duty book notes.

He found there was no reason for police to stop the Jeep and that Parsons was Tasered more than three times without justification. He called the assault "offensive and egregious."

The judge awarded the 30-year-old man $50,000 in total damages and indicated he would have given Parsons more if he had asked for a greater sum.

The notice of appeal claims there were at least 15 errors made by the judge that are grounds for appeal.

It says those include the judge's finding that information not included in officers' duty book notes was inherently unreliable.

Harris also didn't make allowances for "expected differing versions of events" in officers' testimony, it said.

The judge made a mistake by concluding there was no reasonable basis to stop the vehicle, it says, and that Harris erred by concluding there were no reasonable grounds to charge Parsons with assaulting police and resisting arrest.

The notice says the judge spent almost no time in his decision "discussing the "grossly inconsistent and disparate testimony of the plaintiffs" and ignored independent evidence, such as from an emergency room doctor.

The notice says Parsons should not have been awarded damages. It argues Parsons' former fiancee Terri Lynn Ryckman, a co-plaintiff in the case, should not have received a $10,000 award for nervous shock and emotional distress or $5,000 in punitive damages.

No date for the appeal has been set.

Man dies in Florida

October 2, 2009: Rickey R. Massey, 38, Panama City, Florida

Winnipeg stun-gun victim schizophrenic

September 30, 2009
CBC News

A 31-year-old man shocked by a Winnipeg police stun gun this week suffers from schizophrenia and is a former resident of a provincial mental health institution, his mother told CBC News Wednesday.

The man was in critical condition Monday night when he was taken to hospital after the stun-gun incident and put into a medically induced coma.

His condition has been upgraded to stable, police said Wednesday.

The man's mother said that her son's behaviour is "unpredictable" and that he takes medication daily. He lives in a downtown group home but once lived at a mental health centre in Selkirk, about 40 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

CBC News is not identifying the man or his mother out of privacy concerns.

Police said officers came upon the man at about 10 p.m. when they were investigating a domestic incident on Balmoral Street. The man was at the rear of a building in the 300 block of nearby Kennedy Street.

Police have not released any information about why the officers used the stun gun, except to say the man was belligerent and refused to follow instructions.

The incident, which is under investigation, is not related to the domestic matter, police said.

Winnipeg: Injured zapped man was combative

September 30, 2009
By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

Sources say a male who is in critical condition after he was zapped by a police Taser was belligerent and combative with officers when they encountered him behind a downtown Winnipeg apartment building Monday night.

Officers deployed a Taser to bring the male under control but he possibly struck his head as he fell to the ground, a source said yesterday.

City police revealed little about the circumstances but said the male wasn't compliant with officers during an altercation, so they used the electronic control device.

Police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said he was unaware if the male was armed with a weapon.

A man who lives in the Kirkby Terrace apartments at Kennedy Street and Qu'Appelle Avenue said he heard police scream at the male to get on the ground, so he rushed to his balcony, where he watched police Taser the male below.

The witness said the male was standing on or near a path at the north side of the building, facing at least five "riled up" police officers.

The man said he didn't hear the male say anything and couldn't tell if he was armed because it was dark.

"I think he just didn't get on the ground when they told him to," the man said.

Yesterday, a bloodstain was still visible on the path. The male remains in hospital.

Police are investigating to determine if the level of force used was appropriate.

Winnipeg police have used Tasers hundreds of times. Last year, Michael Langan, 17, died after being jolted with a police Taser. The cause of death hasn't been released. Police said at the time Langan ignored orders to drop a knife he was allegedly holding.

Officers stopped the male to find out if he was involved in a domestic dispute moments earlier at Balmoral Street and Sargent Avenue at 10:15 p.m.

Police went to the intersection to find the people involved -- a woman, her boyfriend and ex -- but they were gone, so officers searched the area.

It turns out the male who was jolted by a Taser wasn't involved in the domestic matter but officers didn't know that at the time, Michalyshen said.

Regardless of that fact, the male was aggressive towards the officers for some reason, a source said.

Michalyshen said investigators were still trying to confirm the male's identity yesterday.

Meanwhile, police have two males, aged 17 and 23, in custody for their alleged roles in the beating and robbery of an 18-year-old man in front of the apartment at 4:50 a.m. yesterday. The man is in stable condition.

Police believe the same suspects robbed a 23-year-old man at Ellice Avenue and Kennedy about the same time.

Edmonton appeal board hears from Tasered lawyer

September 28, 2009
By Ryan Cormier, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — An Edmonton lawyer is attempting to force a disciplinary hearing for two police officers who Tasered and detained him during the 2006 Stanley Cup playoff celebrations on Whyte Avenue.

Brian Fish, 69, was taking pictures of a separate arrest on Whyte Avenue on the night of June 17, 2006, when he was approached by an officer who told him to stop.

When he refused, Fish told the Law Enforcement Review Board, Const. Denise Turkawski tried to get in the way of his photos. In response, Fish tried to take pictures over her head.

“She came toward me, I thought to grab the camera. I raised my arms and dropped the camera behind me. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground getting Tasered,” Fish testified Monday. He added that, at one point, he lost consciousness.

The officer who used the Taser has since been identified as Const. Tori Tagg.

Police at the scene believed Fish was inciting those around him. A zero-tolerance policy was in effect on Whyte Avenue at the time.

The lawyer was then held for roughly four hours, and refused to give his name to police, but was later released without charges. That same night, 386 people were arrested during the party on Whyte Avenue. Two were charged.

Fish had put in a complaint to police, but the investigation led to no charges. Police Chief Mike Boyd concluded there was no likelihood the charges could be proven. Fish is now appealing to the Law Enforcement Review Board to order the officers involved to face a hearing.

Fish testified that he was on Whyte Avenue after his son Nigel called and said his friend had been arrested and that “police were being crazy.” Fish told the board that no medical attention was provided to him after he was Tasered.

At one point, an officer told Fish “they were just doing their job.”

Nigel Fish, who was arrested at the same time as his father, also testified. He said he was taken into custody when he protested the physical handling of his father.

“I stepped forward,” he recalled. “What are you doing? That’s an old man. I was then put on the ground and arrested.”

Nigel Fish said that he was insulted many times by officers, including use of a homophobic slur.

The hearing continues Tuesday.

Florida man dies after chase and Taser use

September 28, 2009
SARA KENNEDY, Bradenton Herald

BRADENTON — A Bradenton man died at Manatee Memorial Hospital early today after he fled police and an officer used a Taser on him, according to a report by the Bradenton Police Department issued this morning.

Derrick Humbert, 38, refused to make a traffic stop at 12:18 a.m. when directed to do so by officers in the area of the 700 block of 27th Street East, according to the report prepared by Deputy Chief J.J. Lewis.

Humbert then fled on foot, running through several residential yards, the report said. One of the pursuing officers used his Taser, it said. A Taser is an electro-shock weapon that is used to slow or immobilize a suspect.

Police called emergency medical service workers to take Humbert to the hospital, where he died while being treated, the release said. The police department is conducting an investigation and awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death, the report said.

Police said they later determined that Humbert had an outstanding arrest warrant for possession of marijuana, the report said. The name of the officer was not released this morning.

My mea culpa

September 25, 2009
Lorne Gunter, National Post

I apologize for sticking up for the Mounties who Tasered Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. He died soon after. More than that, I am sorry for suggesting in print that Mr. Dziekanski and his mother, Zofia Cisowski, had some culpability in his death; he for acting bizarrely, she for failing to do more to locate her son before he went berserk after waiting mistakenly for hours in a Canada Customs office in the terminal.

I still believe Mr. Dziekanski's behaviour was inappropriate and disturbing. But he did not deserve to die. And he died because police officers forgot their training and obligation to the public, acted excessively and in haste, may have killed an innocent, if disturbed, man in the process.

As guardians of the peace, they failed, just as I failed as a journalist by standing by them too long.

The Braidwood inquiry into the incident is ongoing in Vancouver, so it remains too early to come to some conclusions about the officers' actions and about the behaviour of their superiors following the event. But what we have learned so far has made a few very important conclusions unavoidable: The four officers on the scene overreacted to the situation before them. An innocent man died as a result of their misjudgment and excessive use of force. And ever since, their superiors have been attempting to cover up their blameworthiness.

This latter transgression -- the attempt by the brass to keep the truth from coming out -- is the greatest problem now plaguing our once-proud national police force. It speaks to the institutional rot and corrosive culture at the upper echelons of the RCMP.

I am not doubting that the Dziekanski call-out, coming after 1:00 in the morning, was no routine episode. The dispatcher had told the quartet of officers to expect an "intoxicated male throwing luggage around" and "throwing chairs through [a] glass window." He was cursing, throwing furniture, erecting a barricade and swinging a small table at a civilian who approached him to see whether they might help.

Witnesses in the airport at the time sided with the officers, although many have since recanted their original statements in front of the inquiry. Mr. Dziekanski "deserved the Taser," they told investigators, and police "had no choice" because he was "out of control."

Still, the officers acted far too quickly in Tasering the Polish traveller. They made almost none of the standard peaceful approaches they are trained to make and escalated instead almost instantly to the conducted energy weapon.

Their after-incident reports at the time disagree with the video evidence and, more damagingly, with their sworn statements to the Braidwood commission. They each claimed Mr. Dziekanski refused to co-operate with them, although the video evidence seems to indicate he, being a non-speaker of English, was complying the best he could with commands they gave by gesture. And while they insisted he became "combative," picked up a stapler to use as a weapon and lunged at them, none of that is supported in the video recordings.

More damning for me was what the officers told paramedics on the scene. While the officers had jolted Mr. Dziekanski five times with their Taser, they informed paramedics they had stunned the blue-faced, convulsive, breathless victim only once, a possible sign that even then they knew they had done something wrong and were preparing a common cover story.

But worst of all is the way senior Mounties have done all they can to keep the bright light of public scrutiny from shining on the Dziekanski death. Their initial response to the incident was less than frank. They tried to block a comprehensive video taken at the scene from being made public. They resisted an inquiry, whitewashed their own findings and, as we learned this week, kept 18,000 documents -- some highly damaging -- from being seen by the formal inquiry and from the public.

Senior Mounties who helped perpetrate a cover-up should be sacked. Likely the four officers should be fired, too, although Canadians might want to wait for the Braidwood report before urging that. And the RCMP itself should apologize formally for its role in all this.

Next the force needs to be remade from top to bottom, stressing its responsibility and rectitude.

Only then will it have any chance of repairing its tarnished reputation.

Dziekanski's death 'deliberate,' watchdog suggests

September 25, 2009
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

Poland's top civil-rights watchdog says a crucial e-mail dissected at the Braidwood inquiry this week suggests the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski was “deliberate, intentional and planned in advance.”

The comment by Janusz Kochanowski, Poland's commissioner for civil-rights protection, is included in a letter to be sent next week to Canada's director of public prosecutions that was obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The civil-rights commissioner's concerns revolve around suggestions the four Mounties involved in the October, 2007, confrontation with Mr. Dziekanski planned, in advance, to taser him.

In an e-mail presented to the Braidwood inquiry in June, RCMP Chief Superintendent Dick Bent quoted RCMP Superintendent Wayne Rideout suggesting the Mounties went to the airport planning to taser Mr. Dziekanski, which would have contradicted the inquiry testimony of the four Mounties.

On the stand at the Braidwood inquiry this week, Supt. Rideout, who was in charge of investigating Mr. Dziekanski's death, bluntly dismissed the theory, and said Supt. Bent was wrong. Supt. Bent told the inquiry the suggestion was correct as far as he knew.

In an interview from Warsaw Thursday, the civil-rights commissioner's spokesman said he hoped Mr. Braidwood would properly assess the conflicting accounts on the e-mail in his final report.

Miroslaw Wroblewski also said the commissioner remains intent on seeing the Mounties prosecuted and that Mr. Braidwood's final report would be a green light for efforts by his office to press Polish prosecutors to figure out how to do that.

Mr. Dziekanski drew the attention of police when he began acting erratically in Vancouver international airport after a long flight to Canada from Poland. When the 40-year-old labourer picked up a stapler in a manner police deemed threatening, he was stunned five times and cuffed. He died of a cardiac arrest that was not officially linked to the taser. However, his death prompted an ongoing debate on the police use of stun guns, and in the case of Poland, calls for the criminal prosecution of the officers involved.

B.C. prosecutors have ruled out such a prosecution, saying the officers did not break the law.

But the Polish commissioner's office is bullish about a prosecution.

“We cannot exclude any solution. The ending and final effect of the Braidwood inquiry is now the most important thing [about] what will happen next,” said Mr. Wroblewski.

“We will take further steps after the end of the [Braidwood] proceedings.”

He declined to get into specifics about exactly how prosecutors in a European country would hold Mounties in Canada legally accountable for their actions, but insisted “legally, it's possible.”

In the letter, Poland's civil-right commissioner asks for an official update on the ongoing inquiry.

“I would like to emphasize that an appropriate closure of this matter is of uncommon significance, not only for the family of the deceased, Robert Dziekanski, but also for the whole of Polish society, which is following the events connected with these proceedings with great interest,” the letter says.

He is to sign the letter next week. It will then be mailed to Brian Saunders, the federal prosecutions director.

A spokesman for Mr. Saunders' office said Thursday that they had not had any previous dealings with the Polish commissioner on the Dziekanski case, nor did they have any role in the matter.

Mr. Kochanowski is an independent officer appointed by the Polish government to monitor and uphold the civil rights of Polish citizens at home and abroad.

He met last week with Mr. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, who was in Poland for a visit.

The commissioner told Ms. Cisowski about all of the actions his office has taken in the case since 2007, and thoughts about a prosecution. Mr. Wroblewski noted that Ms. Cisowski said she had faith in the work of Mr. Braidwood.

Mr. Braidwood, a retired B.C. appeal-court justice, heard his last witness this week.

Starting Oct. 5, lawyers representing parties including the RCMP, Mr. Dziekanski's mother and the Canadian government will begin making final oral submissions to Mr. Braidwood, who will then begin writing his final report.

Taser testimony gaps 'beyond belief': B.C. inquiry lawyer

September 24, 2009
By Suzanne Fournier, Vancouver Province

VANCOUVER — The four RCMP officers who Tasered and restrained Robert Dziekanski kept working together for weeks after the Polish immigrant died in their custody at the Vancouver International Airport.

Yet the four officers previously told the inquiry probing his October 2007 death that they never had the opportunity to discuss the case, either at work, at a debriefing session or in phone calls or e-mails.

But on its 61st and final day of hearings, the Braidwood inquiry into Dziekanski's death heard Wednesday from RCMP Sgt. Doug Wright — the immediate supervisor of the four Mounties involved in the Tasering — that the four kept working together "for two or three weeks."

Then, Wright admitted, three of the four were sent on a training course together in Chilliwack, B.C.

Outside the courtroom, Polish government lawyer Don Rosenbloom called Wright's evidence "just beyond belief."

Walter Kosteckyj, lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, agreed. "You've got four people that work together, they go through what is obviously a traumatic experience, and then they continue to work together for three weeks — and then three of them get sent to do a training course together. What would common sense dictate? Of course they would discuss this incident."

Wright, who was first told of the Tasering and Dziekanski's death by Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson at 2 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2007, also said that he warned Robinson to take "excellent" notes as the death would be investigated by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Wright — whose own extensive notes, released by the inquiry Wednesday, show that he discussed the incident with all cops on his team — admitted Robinson's notes fell far short of excellence. He denied he gave the four officers ample opportunity to corroborate their version of events.

Wright also noted that a police officer involved "in a major incident, any notes he writes at the time may be subject to production or search warrants to address what he did at the time."

Thomas Braidwood, the retired judge in charge of the inquiry, demanded Wright describe Robinson's notes: "Were they excellent?"

Wright replied: "No sir, they were very short. The officers have a duty to report . . . I would have expected there would have been more notes."

Outside the courtroom, Kosteckyj and Rosenbloom said that the four Mounties were never investigated as persons of interest in a homicide.

None of them was ever given a police caution or read his charter rights, the inquiry was told.

Tasers overused and unreliable

September 24, 2009
John Lapsley, McGill Daily

Polytechnique professor condemns taser lethality, inconsistent performance

A lecture held at McGill Monday night warned that overuse and risk of malfunction make tasers far more dangerous than previously believed.

Pierre Savard of the École Polytechnique de Montreal led the audience through his research on the effects of electric stimulation on the human heart, demonstrating that use of electric stun guns can at times cause fatal complications.

“For many subjects with individual susceptibilities, the taser is in fact lethal,” Savard said, pointing out that individuals with heart disease and drug users face greater risks.

“The taser shock is analogous to the stress test hospitals give heart patients to test for defects,” Savard said. “These shocks stimulate flexors, extensors, and every nerve ending in the body.”

According to Savard, the danger present in these so-called “non-lethal weapons” is further exacerbated by what he saw as the RCMP’s gross overuse of tasers.

Savard illustrated this point with instances in which police used stun guns to wake up a subject sleeping on a bench and to pacify a grandmother who was making too much noise at a nursing home.

“It’s so easy to silence a subject [with a taser],” Savard said. “Too many policemen use it like the mute button on a remote control.”

Savard, a professor of electrical and biomedical engineering, began his investigation into taser safety after the October 2007 death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. Dziekanski could not understand English and became lost shortly after arriving at Vancouver International Airport. After an agitated Dziekanski threw a computer and small table to the ground, RCMP officers tasered him five times. Dziekanski died almost immediately.

Dziekanski’s death spurred a Michener Prize-winning CBC-Radio Canada investigation into taser safety, which found that at least 10 per cent of the stun guns currently in use in Canada malfunction outside of manufacturer specifications, putting subjects at greater risk of death.

Several individual police forces in Canada launched concurrent investigations that supported CBC-Radio Canada’s findings.

Based on these studies, groups like Amnesty International and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP stepped forward, condemning taser overuse and urging a moratorium on stun guns until further research could be done.

Taser International, the sole manufacturer of tasers, responded dismissively to these studies.

Peter Holran, the company’s spokesman, called it regrettable that “false allegations based on scientifically flawed data” could raise such concerns and reaffirmed the quality of Taser International’s products.

Savard was concerned by Taser International’s lack of transparency. Savard noted that medical instrument manufacturers have “traceability,” meaning that a defective medical instrument can be traced piece by piece back to the raw materials, allowing selective safety recalls. Weapons manufacturers also undergo strict objective scrutiny from outside safety agencies. Tasers, however, qualify as neither medical instruments nor weapons, and are therefore subject only to the manufacturer’s testing standards.

Savard quipped, “If it’s not a weapon and it’s not medical equipment, it’s a toy.”

Tasers, however, still rank among police officers’ safest methods of applying force.

Savard cited a 2006-2007 study of Calgary police officers’ force interactions which demonstrated that out of all non-lethal force methods, stun gun interactions least frequently necessitated medical attention for the subject or the officer.

Savard himself admitted that tasers are among the safer means of subduing suspects, but firmly reiterated that more research into stun gun lethality, and more transparency in the manufacturing process are necessary if police officers are to continue using them on suspects.

National Post editorial board: Shame on the RCMP

September 24, 2009
Editorial, National Post

Is there a sadder spectacle in Canadian public life than watching the RCMP immolate themselves at the Braidwood inquiry into the tazering death of Robert Dziekanski two years ago at Vancouver International airport? A once proud institution -- the best known icon of Canada in the rest of the world -- seems hell-bent on destroying its last shreds of credibility.

New documents, the existence of which the RCMP had concealed from the commission and Canadians for over 18 months, now show that the force knew days before video of Mr. Dziekanski's killing became public that it had a time bomb ticking in its hands. Rather than deal with it proactively and forcefully by suspending the officers involved and conducting a thorough internal investigation, the Mounties devised a cover-up to mute or at least minimize the consequences.

This is shameful.

Even more shameful is the way the force has continued to justify its officers' behaviour and its own actions in papering over their offences. Instead of sweeping clean, new Commissioner William Elliott has quickly become the RCMP's apologist-in-chief.

The Mounties can begin to restore their reputation for independent, fair-minded policing only if they come clean, apologize for what their officers did, punish them and take their lumps in the theatre of Canadian public opinion.

National Post

Mountie's note-taking criticized in taser incident

September 24, 2009
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

The senior Mountie among four involved in a fatal confrontation with Robert Dziekanski was yesterday criticized by his supervisor for taking substandard notes recording events around the incident.

Staff Sergeant Doug Wright, the number-two officer in the RCMP's airport detachment, told the Braidwood inquiry he urged Corporal Benjamin Robinson to take “excellent notes” about the Oct. 14, 2007, confrontation at Vancouver Airport between police and the 40-year-old Polish immigrant.

Staff Sgt. Wright said he gave the corporal the advice in an early morning conversation in which Cpl. Robinson told his boss what had happened when the officers used a taser on Mr. Dziekanski.

But the staff sergeant indicated on the stand yesterday that he was not impressed with the corporal's work.

He was asked by Don Rosenbloom, a lawyer representing the government of Poland, whether he thought Cpl. Robinson had taken “excellent notes” up to his own standards.

“They weren't up to my standard,” he said. “Were they up to his? I'm not sure.”

Mr. Rosenbloom asked if the staff sergeant would not have expected extensive notes from officers involved in what was essentially an in-custody death.

“The officers have a duty to report. I would have expected there would have been more notes than what were there,” he said, indicating, in response to another question, that he had not had a chance to review the notes of the other three officers.

Staff Sgt. Wright also said that he permitted the four officers to work together for several weeks after the incident in spite of a protocol barring them from discussing the incident among themselves, saying that it was not deemed to be necessary to separate them.

The staff sergeant, the last witness to testify, was sent on his way with a cheery, “That seems to be everyone. Thank you very much,” from inquiry head Thomas Braidwood.

Closing arguments are to be presented starting Oct. 5.

Mr. Rosenbloom later expressed concerns about the notes issue.

“One would have thought that where there's an in-custody death, police officers would be writing extensive notes about what transpired, if only to protect their own interests, and indeed to protect the public interests, and frankly when you look at the notes of the officers in connection with this matter, there's mighty little to feed on,” he told reporters.

“I felt in this case, the notes that are now exhibits before these proceedings fall so short of the standard every citizen would expect of our police in Canada.”

Police went to the airport, responding to reports that a man in the international arrivals section was acting erratically.

Mr. Dziekanski, a 40-year-old labourer who had come to Canada to start a new life with his mother in Kamloops, was stunned five times with a taser after he picked up a stapler in what the officers deemed to be a threatening action.

Mr. Dziekanski died of cardiac arrest that has not, specifically, been linked to the use of the taser.

One key issue has been the failure of authorities to communicate with Mr. Dziekanski, who spoke only Polish.

The inquiry also heard yesterday from a Spanish-language interpreter who was on duty at the airport and suggested to authorities that they summon a Polish-language interpreter to help Mr. Dziekanski.

However, it turned out the only one available was in Ontario, and had asked not be contacted for jobs of less than two hours.

Gracie Churchill-Browne noted that border officials were otherwise genuinely trying to help Mr. Dziekanski, who appeared exhausted after his long flight to Canada, although not to the point where she felt it necessary to seek medical aid for him.

One official, she said, expressed surprise that Mr. Dziekanski was still around because his family had returned to Kamloops.

Ms. Churchill-Browne said she told another border officer she hoped Mr. Dziekanski would stay at the airport because he did not seem in a fit state to leave.

“She said, ‘Oh. He's a big boy,'” she recalled.

Mr. Dziekanski's mother said she found the issue of translation appalling, particularly because she accessed a translator within 20 minutes of her arrival in Canada 10 years ago.

“Why not at this moment, 2007? I am so disappointed,” she said. “If he had a translator, [he] would be alive today.”

SIU Concludes Investigation into Peel Region Custody Death

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Sept. 23 /CNW/ - The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that officers from Peel Regional Police (PRP) committed any criminal offence in relation to the death of a 42-year-old Brampton man on September 17, 2008.

The SIU assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident.

On the evening of September 16, 2008, Sean Reilly was arrested at a Mississauga home on a charge of assault, and was subsequently taken to 12 Division police station where he was lodged in a cell. Approximately thirty minutes later, Mr. Reilly was seen on a cell monitor banging his head on the bars, causing his forehead to bleed. Officers attended the cell area and told Mr. Reilly they would take him to hospital, but he continued to ram his head into the bars. He finally complied with demands to get down on his knees. When an officer entered the cell, Mr. Reilly ran at him. The officers pinned Mr. Reilly to the ground, but he continued to struggle. A Taser was discharged by one of the officers to Mr. Reilly's shoulder blade, whereupon Mr. Reilly stopped resisting and was handcuffed. He immediately fell into physical distress, and shortly after, stopped breathing. The officers started cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the arrival of the paramedics, who successfully regained his pulse. Mr. Reilly was then transported to Mississauga General Hospital where he never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead the next day.

There will be a mandatory inquest in this matter, and accordingly, the cause of death will be determined by the jury after they have heard all of the evidence. For purposes of the SIU's mandate, however, the forensic evidence indicated that the force used by the officers against Mr. Reilly, including the Taser discharge, did not contribute to his death.

Director Scott said, "I am of the opinion that Mr. Reilly was in lawful police custody after being properly arrested on a charge of assault with a weapon. While the subject officers had physical contact with Mr. Reilly after he was placed in a 12 Division cell and made use of a Taser, on the basis of the post-mortem examination, the actions of the subject officers were unrelated to his death. Further, their attempt to subdue him and the use of the Taser were justified under ss. 25(1) of the Criminal Code in circumstances where he needed to be transported to a hospital and was actively non-compliant."

Director Scott added, "Given the circumstances leading to the death of Mr. Reilly, I am of the view that the four subject officers' conduct fell within the limits prescribed by the criminal law. Accordingly, I cannot attach criminal liability to their acts and omissions with respect to this incident."

The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates cases of serious injuries (including allegations of sexual assault) and deaths involving the police. Pursuant to section 113 of the Police Services Act, the Director of the SIU is mandated to consider whether a criminal offence has been committed by an officer(s) in connection with the incident under investigation and, where warranted by the evidence, to cause a criminal charge or charges to be laid against the officer(s). The Director reports the results of investigations to the Attorney General.

For further information: Monica Hudon, SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES, Telephone/No de telephone: (416) 622-2342 or/ou 1-800-787-8529

Officers cleared in Brampton man’s death

Wednesday September 23 2009
By Pam Douglas, Brampton Guardian

Four Peel Regional Police officers have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the death of a Brampton man Tasered inside a Mississauga jail cell last fall.

Sean Reilly, 42, died as he fought with officers inside the 12 Division cell on Sept. 17, 2008, according to the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

A mandatory inquest will be held into the incident, and the inquest jury will determine the official cause of death, according to SIU Director Ian Scott. However, “the forensic evidence indicated that the force used by the officers, including the Taser discharge, did not contribute to his death,” the SIU concluded.

“While the subject officers had physical contact with Mr. Reilly after he was placed in a 12 Division cell and made use of a Taser, on the basis of the post-mortem examination, the actions of the subject officers were unrelated to his death,” according to SIU Director Ian Scott.

Reilly was arrested for assault with a weapon at a Mississauga home the night of Sept. 16. He was taken to 12 Division and put in the holding cell, according to the SIU investigation. Thirty minutes later, he was seen on a cell video monitor banging his head on the bars. His forehead was bleeding from the force, and officers went to the cell to tell him they were going to take him to hospital, but he continued to ram his head into the bars, the SIU investigation revealed.

He eventually complied with the officers’ commands to get down on his knees, but when an officer unlocked and entered the cell, he ran at him. Reilly was pinned to the ground by the four subject officers, but the struggle continued, and he was Tasered on the shoulder blade by one of the officers.

He stopped struggling and was handcuffed, but immediately fell into “physical distress” and stopped breathing, according to the SIU investigation.

The officers performed CPR until paramedics arrived, and the medics were able to get Reilly’s heartbeat back, according to the SIU. He was taken to Mississauga General Hospital and never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead the next day.

Scott concluded the officers’ attempt to subdue him and use the Taser were justified under the Criminal Code of Canada in circumstances where he needed to be taken to the hospital, but was resisting.

A date for an inquest has not yet been set.

Analysis: Even the RCMP is admitting it's time to give up self-investigation

September 23, 2009
By Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun

The Braidwood Commission into the death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR is no further ahead after its unexpected three-month hiatus triggered by the disclosure of a controversial, previously unseen RCMP e-mail.

It has another 18,000 pages of documents from the Mounties and a new mystery (a week-long black hole in a senior B.C. officer's electronic archive around the time the key e-mail was sent), but little new insight.

Oh, unless you count the fact that even a senior Mountie realizes the force has lost public confidence and it's time for an independent investigative agency in B.C. to step in when RCMP conduct is an issue.

The inquiry into Dziekanski's tragic death Oct. 14, 2007, should have ended long ago and the report into what happened should be near completion.

Instead, the second anniversary of the Polish immigrant's death will come and go without any closure.

The delays, the foot-dragging and the late-disclosure by the RCMP have obviously irked former justice Thomas Braidwood, who spoke sharply to lawyers Tuesday and cut short their cross-examination whenever it strayed from relevance.

"Why would I possibly want to know that?" he snapped at one point.

"I don't see that as an issue."

His frustration is understandable given the mire.

The author of the Nov. 5, 2007 note whose content suggests the four Mounties who Tasered Dziekanski misled the inquiry, Chief Supt. Richard Bent said he did his best to ensure the three-paragraph note was accurate.

"These are serious matters we don't take lightly," he said.

But he admitted his note could be wrong, especially the key sentence he penned to his boss RCMP assistant commissioner Al Macintyre:

"Finally, spoke to [Supt.] Wayne [Rideout] and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they go to CEW [conducted energy weapon, commonly known as a Taser]."

Tagged with saying the Mounties decided to zap Dziekanski before even laying eyes on him, Rideout complained Bent definitely misunderstood.

"That is not what happened," he emphasized. "The way he has portrayed my comments to him in that passage as read out is wrong."

The man who received the e-mail, the province's second-in-command Horseman, MacIntyre could shed no light on it and said he didn't pay much attention to it.

He added that he also could not explain why investigators looking to recover other relevant documents discovered his electronic archive had been deleted between Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, 2007.

"I have no explanation," he said about the missing documents.

No wonder Braidwood is grumpy.

Here is the official Marcel Marceau version of what happened:

Four officers having lunch together in the detachment office received a call about a man throwing around luggage; without a word, they rose as a unit, mutely jumped into four separate squad cars, raced silently to the airport and within 24 seconds (without ever having spoken) they jolted Dziekanski five times.

You can understand why people are skeptical.

Even Rideout conceded that he personally thought the RCMP was fighting a losing battle for public support.

It was time for an independent investigative agency to handle cases involving police officers, such as they have in Ontario, he said.

"While we're comfortable and competent in our investigations, we recognize that's not the perception," Rideout explained.

"We shouldn't be doing this. We can't do an independent investigation and market the RCMP.... We are not winning. We are not perceived publicly as being able to investigate ourselves. It's a perception problem. It's unwinnable."

Crown prosecutors have decided not to charge Const. Bill Bentley, Const. Gerry Rundel, Const. Kwesi Millington and Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson in Dziekanski's death.

However, there have been calls for them to reconsider, given the concerns the investigation was flawed and the officers lied about what happened.

Braidwood hopes to wrap up the extra days of testimony this week and to hear final arguments starting Oct. 5 from the score of lawyers involved in the inquiry.