The man whom police at Vancouver International Airport tasered to death on October 14 has been identified, but the circumstances and the exact cause of his death are still unknown:
A man who died at Vancouver International Airport minutes after being zapped with an RCMP stun gun was in the process of immigrating to live with his family in British Columbia.
Instead 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski, of Pieszyce, Poland, died early Sunday morning, minutes after being zapped with two jolts of electricity from a Taser stun gun.
The death has refocused attention on the use of the weapon by police in Canada.
Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward represented the family of a man who died after being Tasered while in Vancouver police custody and he believes the weapons are overused.
“The police are frequently using them on people who are not armed and who may be in medical or emotional distress.”
Assistant deputy chief coroner Jeff Dolan said an autopsy found no trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death for Dziekanski. He will have to see if toxicology or microscopic examination can determine why the man died.
RCMP said after Dziekanski’s death that he was in a state of excited delirium when they encountered him, that he was yelling, throwing things, banging on the windows and sweating heavily.
The use of the term excited delirium irritates Ward. “I think it’s premature and misleading to assert that excited delirium, so called, was in any way involved,” he said.
Cell phone image of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport
CBC News interviewed eyewitness Sima Ashrafinia who captured the incident on her cell phone camera:
Sima Ashrafinia, who recorded the incident at the airport on her cellphone, told CBC News that RCMP officers stunned Dziekanski four times and handcuffed him after he fell on the floor.
“The third and fourth ones were at the same time,” she alleges. “The officer at his right and the officer at his left, they Tasered him at the same time and he fell down on his right.
“As he fell down, four or five officers gathered around him and handcuffed him while he was on the floor.”
She is also interviewed this CTV report which features some of the footage she shot of the taser incident.
As a Polish – Canadian citizen I am deeply outraged about the Police Actions at YVR last month toward volunable person who sought help, and wanted some attention after waiting for so many hours at the Customs Clearance area. We all know a taser gun X-26 has been used on Mr. Dziekanski. According to witnesses Mr Robert was stunned with two guns at the same time, so the electrical shock is twice strong what is currently required by policy.
I have a one question: Where is that RCMP who was aiming To Serve And To Protect. We don’t have that anymore.
This is obvieous That RCMP must change !!!