A special prosecutor will look into criminal charges against four policemen who confronted a Polish traveler who died after being stunned with a Taser gun, officials said on Friday.
Robert Dziekanski, 40, died in late 2007 just minutes after being stunned five times with a Taser gun and then restrained by four policemen at the airport in this Pacific Coast metropolis.
Airport workers called police after Dziekanski, a nervous first-time traveler who spoke only Polish, threw a computer and a chair.
He was emigrating to Canada, where his mother lived, and after arriving became mysteriously lost in the airport for about 10 hours. He grew distraught after finally emerging to find his mother gone, after an official told her he was not there.
British Columbia Attorney General Michael de Jong told reporters he would immediately appoint a special prosecutor to look at the police actions — reversing a 2008 decision by the prosecutor’s office to not place charges.
His statement came minutes after the release of the final report of an inquiry into Dziekanski’s horrific death.
Thomas Braidwood, who heads an inquiry commission, found police were not justified in using the Taser. Five jolts from the stun gun and a physical struggle with the four police officers “contributed substantially to Mr Dziekanski’s death,” he said.
Braidwood was restricted by the commission’s mandate from finding criminal negligence. However, he called the policemen’s response to Dziekanski “shameful.”
“They approached it like a pub brawl and they never changed their mindset,” he said. “I can’t help but think that if the Taser was not there, they perhaps would have reverted to their former skills” used by police to de-escalate confrontations.
The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police unconditionally apologized to Dziekanski’s mother, for the second time.
“Our policies and training were inadequate. The actions of our officers were inappropriate,” William Elliott told Zofia Cisowski, in front of a news conference, adding the force would “thoroughly” examine Braidwood’s report.
One officer is suspended because of an investigation into a separate incident, he noted, while the other three continue to work but not on “front-line policing.”
“The RCMP, they still have no consequences,” Cisowski said.
She quoted a reporter who asked, “Why are they still working?” adding, “I need answers too.”
The inquiry was set up after a bystander’s video was released to the media and made international headlines.
Dziekanski’s last words to the policemen before he died, “Have you lost your minds? Or have you gone insane? Why?” were reflected in the title of his report: Why? The Robert Dziekanski Tragedy.
“The human dimension to this is staggering,” commented de Jong, from the fact someone could be lost in Vancouver’s airport for many hours to Dziekanski’s death.
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