It’s a disturbing video (see bottom of page for links) that was released (and purchased) by the media yesterday, showing as it does the tasering and subsequent death of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver Airport on October 14th. With its release the nature of the video and how the RCMP members dealt with the situation, have many contemplating the amount of force required in any situation and how police and in particular the RCMP use it.
Graphic in its detail, it shows the arrival of four RCMP constables to a confusing situation, which had previously shown the visibly upset Robert Dziekanski throwing furniture and a computer around a Vancouver airport holding area.
Dziekanski had spent an unusually long period of time wandering the inner corridors of Vancouver airport, unable to make contact with his waiting mother and unable to find assistance in his quest from officials at the airport. In an era of heightened security at airports where suspicious behavior is usually dealt with quickly, this fellow was left to roam the corridors for hours, most likely upset, disoriented and unable to get his concerns across. Yet no one it would seem approached him to see if there was a way to lend assistance.
That’s yet another troublesome aspect to this case, a large international airport, complete with a Customs and Immigration gateway seemingly has no personnel available capable of talking to a visitor in his native language. His mother made repeated attempts to contact someone in authority at the airport to check on her son, yet no one seemed capable or interested in putting a lost, confused man in touch with his frantic mother on the other side of an airport wall. In fact they told her that he was not at the airport, at much the same time as he was lost inside the various layers of the place.
As it turns out there is a help desk on site, with access to translators, but for whatever reason, no one made use of it that day. In addition, prior to the arrival of police, Vancouver Airport security officers are seen attending at the incident, but did not do much to intervene, other than to tell the distraught Dziekanski to put down the chair he was holding.
All of that leaves us to wonder what is wrong with the procedures at the airport itself.
When the RCMP Officers arrive, the video shows that they were told that the subject did not speak English, within thirty seconds they have spoken in English to Dziekanski, to no avail. There appears to have been little in the way of exhausting all of their options in calming him down, instead they resort to the use of the taser and at that point they shoot him, not once but twice with the weapon.
Then, three of the four members jump on top of him, one of the officers placing the full force of his knee on his throat area. Shortly after he stops moving and in the background of one of the many videos now in circulation, you hear someone calling a Code red on their radio.
A call which we have since learned came as Dziekanski lay dying in the Vancouver airport. During the course of the videos now released no one tries to administer any form of first aid or resuscitation procedures. In all, the rapidly moving sequence of events lasted no more than a couple of minutes.
Negotiations with bank robbers, domestic dispute participants and any other incident you can think of, take more than thirty seconds before the use of a potentially lethal weapon is used. At no time in the scope of the videos out there did it appear that anyone’s life was in danger because of his behavior.
As the video shows, there was no weapon, save a stapler in the hands of Dziekanski, he had not assaulted anyone by that point that we know of and with the exception of some property crime (the computer and chair) he did not appear to be a dangerous threat to anyone around.
In fact prior to his death, he was seen talking calmly with a woman through a pane of glass. So there seems to have been an ability to reduce his anxious situation. All be it by a concerned citizen, showing compassion for a troubled man with no English.
Amnesty International says that in North American almomst 300 people have died as a result of the police use of a taser. In Canada, the CBC reports that BC has accounted for one third of the eighteen taser deaths in the last four years. The weapon is described as a non-lethal enforcement tool for police, but it would appear that in some cases it’s as lethal as a gunshot to the chest.
The controversy over this particular death became even more pronounced when the RCMP refused to return the video of the events to its owner. It was only after the owner went to the media and then threatened legal action, that the video was returned and has now been subsequently released.
The visual image of a man being killed by Police is a disturbing one and as the RCMP has suggested in the last few days, it needs to be taken in the context of the moment. Which is a valid point, but with the appearance of trying to keep it under wraps over the last few weeks, the RCMP certainly hasn’t provided much in the way of confidence in the ability to investigate this case internally.
A call for a special prosecutor has been made in this case (and apparently rejected), and this latest incident involving law enforcement officers will once open the debate regarding the need for an independent review of all deaths related to police action.
Obviously the police have a hard job to do; their day to day operations involve making quick judgments to escalating situations. We charge them with the duty to keep society safe and to deal with harrowing moments. However, the amount of force used, should be reflected by the threat at hand.
In this case, it would seem that the use of the taser was a default mechanism by police, introduced far too early if it were required at all. There seemed to be less interest in calming the man down, that in subduing him in the most expedient manner. From introductions to the actual tasering took less than half a minute and resulted in a loss of life, something seems terribly wrong with that chain of events.
The international aspect of this incident will mean that it remains under the microscope for a long period of time. The Polish government as it should, is keeping tabs on the investigation thus far, expressing their shock today at the behavior of the Canadian police.
There are many disturbing questions about this tragedy, from how the mechanics of a large international airport failed a new immigrant and his mother, to the response of law enforcement and the tragic consequence of a decision made in less than thirty seconds.
None of the answers will bring comfort to Mrs. Dziekanski, all that she is left with now is the realization that a long cherished dream turned to a nightmare. Her sons death is a tragic ending to what should have been a happy reunion with his mother, instead she now has to bury her son.
We as a nation owe it to her to examine all that transpired that day and provide her with an explanation as to how so much, went so wrong, and to learn lessons from a very sad story that should never have been.
(Normally I would provide the easy to open You Tube or LiveLeak window at the top of this post; however, the images from this incident are very graphic so a warning is required for those that may want to explore the issue further.
The link to the full video from Live Leak detailed above, can be found here complete with the events prior to the arrival of the RCMP, a second video from YouTube is floating around as well, this one apparently aired on Polish Television, either video is not an easy thing to watch however, so approach them with that knowledge.)
Other information and commentary can be found below, including links to the network versions of the graphic footage made public yesterday:
CBC News coverage
CTV News coverage
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Province
Globe and Mail
National Post
The Tyee
Opinion 250
New York Times
CBS News
Agence France Press
Irish Times
Reuters News Service
BBC News
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