Video Raises Questions About Taser Death

Polish Immigrant Stunned At Vancouver Airport By 4 Mounties; Couldn't Speak English

(CBS/AP)  A video of a Polish immigrant being jolted with a police Taser at the Vancouver airport shows the man screaming and writhing in pain on the floor shortly before he dies.

The video, taken by another traveler on Oct. 14, shows four Royal Canadian Mounted Police converging on Robert Dziekanski, who could not speak English and who had languished in the airport arrivals area for 10 hours after his flight arrived last month.

"He's holding a folding table at the door to the arrivals area of Vancouver airport. He's exhausted, confused, and breathing heavily," reports Terry Milewski of the CBC.

After arriving from Poland on his first-ever plane ride, Dziekanski had been waiting 10 hours for his mother, who told him to wait in the baggage area. But she couldn't go in there, couldn't get a message to him and finally went home after being told he never arrived.

On the video, a bystander tried to calm Dziekanski down, but he didn't understand. Then, he picked up a computer and threw it, and then a wooden piece of furniture.

The Polish man appears calm when the police arrive.

The video shows him backing up, raising his hands and turning away before the police stun him with the 50,000-volt Taser, sending him to the floor screaming before he's stunned again and the Mounties pin down his head and limbs to handcuff him.

"Probably the most disturbing part is one of the officers using his leg and his knee to pin his head and his neck against the ground," said Paul Pritchard, who made the video.

Dziekanski then became quiet and died soon after.

"I don't know why it ever became a police incident," said retired Vancouver police Supt. Ron Foyle. "It didn't seem that he made any threatening gestures towards them."

"Not a lot goes on in an airport. So, if you're there and there's an incident, sometimes they might overreact. It looks like that's what happened in Vancouver," aviation expert Michael Boyd said on CBS News' The Early Show Thursday.

The RCMP urged the public not to rush to judgment.

"it is only one piece of evidence and it's one person's view, the viewfinder of one individual," said RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr, adding that something made the Mounties take the action they did.

The lawyer for Diekanski's mother, Walter Kosteckyj, said the release of the video has driven the woman into seclusion.

He said Zofia Cisowski of Kamloops saw part of the video and feels her son was frightened, in distress and looking for help which he never got.

"They have to do something with this killing with that Taser weapon. they should do something because that is killer, people killer," Cisowski told the CBC before going into seclusion.

"You've got to question whether one person standing there with three or four officers is a threat," Boyd told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "It doesn't look good for the Canadian police right now."

[RickSpyder]

i am sorry, As much as i appreciate the safety concerns of the officers in situations like this
it seems CLEARLY OBVIOUS that this man was taserd beyond necessity . If four men can not get a set of cuffs on one individual on the ground, then there are bigger problems here including egos and trigger happy fingers. Ignorance is no excuse for the lack of protocol SHAME ON THESE OFFICERS. An Independent inquest is absolutely essential.

[reportworld]

I watched the video and read articles on the above....shame on Canadian gestapo. You people should pay high penalty for what you have done and obviously don''t qualify to handle that type of job....I recommend agriculture...far from animals...since you shouldn''t be around any living being, except beasts like yourself.

[Geminate]

If you act insane and dangerous, no matter what nationality, you will be treated as if you are insane and dangerous. I would rather be tasered than be hit with clubs, put in a choke-hold or shot, all of which are legal if I am causing problems and being insane and dangerous.

Oh and by the way it''s has now been proven that the tasing did not kill this person.

[hound329]

You would think CBS could do better than an "aviation expert" to spew forth inflammatory comments about a use of force, when objective use of force experts are readily available... That said...

Who in their right mind would go to a foreign country, get stood up by their ride from the airport and rationally decide to destroy the airport... This guy snapped and vividly demonstrated his violent tendencies when he decided to wreck the place!

Why the taser??? Would ANY one of you want to go up and put your hands on this guy and take a chance on getting stabbed with the knife we can''t see in his pocket, or the razor blade we can''t see in his mouth, or get bitten by him if he is carrying an active case of hepatitus-C???? I didn''t think so. Neither do the Mounties.

I am a veteran cop and I have been in this business long before their were tasers. I have the permanent injuries to show for it too. For the time I spent off of work and recovering from those injuries my family suffered through a much reduced income, and for what??? The smucks bonded out of jail before I could get discharged from the emergency room.

I extend my sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased, it is unfortunate that they have to mourn this loss. I also extend my condolences to the Mounties involved, they have to live with the memories of a madman that died while they were trying to lawfully and reasonably take him into custody without causing him injury.

MD
Texas Peace Officer

[allunknowing]

What if the computer and desk he threw landed on a baby? And killed the baby? Who would be in the spotlight now as the bad guy?

I think the police did the right thing here. A taser doesn''t kill people, it''s been done on TV on Jack.as.s a few times, no one died. This guy must have had a medical condition. Airport police in my local international airport don''t have guns, the only defense they have would be harsh words or maybe a taser.

Hell, I''m buying a taser today. Seems like the ''IN'' thing to do this week.

Thank you Jesus and Hillary. lol

[ej03202002]

I just travelled to Toronto to visit my brother. My husband is a 76-year old man. I, a 60-year-old woman was asked by the immigration officer why I was not staying with my brother like that is any of her business. On our way back, they pulled aside my 76-year old husband and detailed him. He was carrying my luggage and I, his, so when they opened up ''his'' luggage the young canadian got nasty with him telling him that he had all day and he does not have to catch a plane so he better explain ... Meanwhile, the other jackass canadian forced me to put ''my'' luggage on the conveyor belt. My husband has health issues so I begged to be allowed into the room to explain that it was my luggage. The canadians are as nasty as they come and kudos for our own USA immigration and customs officers because they are a lot more courteous than these fools up North.

[ajayvee]

It has been almost 4 weeks since the incident. In Canada it doesn''t usually take that long for an RCMP investigation to clear the RCMP of any wrong-doing.

[RJH45680]

"Poor thing.(mother) She can hardly stand to watch this video." This is not verbatim but close to what was said on the Early Show this morning during an interview with the man who caught this on tape. Just tell me what mother could or would want to watch her child die, not just once but over and over again???? Who would expect her to watch is this footage? I feel for the mother.

I am appalled at the actions of the Mounties. Just because one wears a badge ,it does not make him God!!!!! I do hope they are held responsible for this senseless killing.

I also think that the media should choose their words more carefully so that they do not appear so bloodthirsty, callous, heartless and insensitive. Just ask yourselves one question, "Would I want to be expected to watch this kind of footage if it were my loved one?"

[lordgafal]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zTuQBlsrKqY
AT 3:03 we can ear a cop so MAY I TEASE HIM even before the even met the guy

[lordgafal]

ok i dont know here but on
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zTuQBlsrKqY
AT 3.03 we can ear a cop so MAY I TEASE HIM even before the even met the guy

[weronika-2009]

You arrive in a country whose language you do not speak. You find yourself in a large airport with no signs in your language and no help to be found. Airports are frustrating places. Maybe Mr. Dziekanski took his frustration out on property. Maybe you wouldn%u2019t, but imagine that you do. Also imagine that this draws attention to yourself and strangers try to communicate with you to help you but you don%u2019t understand their intentions. Because you%u2019re already pissed off you want them to mind their own business so you tell them to leave you alone. They don%u2019t. Now you are both stuck and harassed. You see the police so you call to them. They arrive so you begin angrily to explain your situation and they taser right away, with no warning. You try to escape. You die in complete disbelief, outrage, and fear. How very sad and unfortunate.

Obviously I am not Mr. Dziekanski so I don''t know what he thought and how he interpreted this situation. Moreover, because I was not there I do not know what happened. Arguably, however, Mr. Dziekanski felt threatened and harassed because he yelled for people to get away from him and that he would have them charged. Most importantly and most contentiously because he called to the police he wanted their help and was not a threat to them. The police did not have any of this information but acted too quickly and drastically.

[weronika-2009]

Why does every news outlet fail to provide a translation of what Mr. Dziekanski is saying? What he is saying provides context into his behavior. What happened was a terrible misunderstanding.

Mr. Dziekanski is in the secure area for many hours. At some point his actions attract the attention of security and people waiting outside. The video begins here. Here is some possible insight that I can provide since I speak Polish and understand what he is saying at various points in time (this could have easily been provided if news services and agencies were less apathetic):

At 00:27 he is holding the little table and standing inbetween the doors. He swears and says "I will charge you and everyone" to the woman that is speaking to him and the other people probably because they are not minding their own business and because he is agitated.

At 00:36 he is saying "Get away from me" to multiple people (from the verb tense).

Prior to the point that he police enter the room and taser him, as evident from another clip (CTV), he yells "Police, police!" when the police arrive in a tone that reveals that he is yelling for help.

The police enter the secure area and he is yelling, probably explaining to them what has happened or what he wants them to do. They quickly taser him probably because they thought he was going to argue with them or not cooperate when really he was trying to get THEM to help HIM.

This is my interpretation. Take it with a grain of salt.

[michaelt302]

One person here asked "What did cops do before they got tasers?" You really have to ask? OK, I''ll tell you: they pulled out their nightsticks and beat and beat and beat on people until the person gave up. They would beat the holy sh*t out of suspects. Do you not all remember all the violent videos of cops whacking people, such as Rodney King? Problem is, around the early 90''s, it starting to seem each time a cop did that someone was taking video of it. And, nothing makes a cop look worse than a video of him beating someone with a club, even if the person deserved it. The cops then needed something that was more "peaceful", something more subtle, more high-tech, and more hands-free. Along came the taser. You see, cops don''t really want to kill the suspects. That''s lose-lose, and cops tend to get disciplined or fired if they shoot someone. And, video on TV of a nightstick beat-down is not good for the career either. Tasers solved a lot of that. Now, they can control a resistor, not kill them, and not much to show on TV either. Liberals fail to realize that being a cop sucks. They rarely have a clear choice of good vs. bad. It''s usually between bad and worse, and that is where the taser comes in.

[andor3]

it''s really odd when cops try to claim that a person in an airport might be armed? Dont they trust the security screening (hmmmm)? Or do they fear 3 ounces of shampoo?

This seems to be a pattern--multiple armed officers approach a person known to be unarmed but agitated and escalate the situation then someone dies. It is usually not one of the officers.

[fibonacci_]

Pretty sad. Not sure the police are totally at fault, but I think they should go back to more traditional methods like tackling a guy like that. Not that I personally would have much fun tackling a crazy guy. Guess its easier said than done.

[brianbwb-2009]

Did these airport police get their training in the US? Seems like it...

[alancb2832]

WOW, THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A POWER TRIP. I''M SPEACHLESS.

[thepodler]

I bet that if the same happened in a Moscow airport, the media would throw a fit, accusing Russia of trampling on human rights.

[displeased]

I supported the cop''s actions in the Phoenix incident but the death of this poor Polish person is definitely uncalled for. There was no reason for them to attack this man. It''s ashame airport personnel are so freakin paranoid!

[mwp500]

I hope that those so called cops sleep well for murdering that man, in the old days one cop could sort things out, but not now, these gun toting cowboys would do well to be put on the front line in Afganistan, and see how brave they realy are, they are a lieing pack of fools and should be fired and tried for murder.