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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was