Posted on 11/15/2007 5:39:32 PM PST by fanfan
VANCOUVER — Revulsion, anger, sadness and support have greeted the release of a video showing a Polish immigrant’s confrontation with RCMP at Vancouver International Airport, an encounter that ended in his death.
Millions of people around the world have watched the video of Robert Dziekanski’s final moments on the Internet or TV via Canadian broadcasters and foreign outlets such as CNN, ABC and BBC.
Traveller Paul Pritchard of Victoria, arriving in Canada from China, shot the footage of the Oct. 14 incident but it was not released until Wednesday evening.
The video, which spread globally within hours, triggered thousands of email responses to media outlets and filled Internet blog sites both criticizing and supporting police actions.
It also created a political storm, with opposition politicians demanding a full-blown review of Taser use and ministers warning against a rush to judgment.
“I think we should wait until all the evidence is in,” B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal said while attending a meeting of provincial justice ministers in Winnipeg.
Public reaction to what some commentators have compared with the videotaped Rodney King beating in Los Angeles has been strong and varied.
“I was truly shocked and saddened by this terrible incident at the airport,” a reader wrote to The Canadian Press.
“Why was the Taser used at all?”
Wrote an Alberta man referring to the RCMP: “Mr. Dziekanski was posing no threat to these Rambo wannabes.
“Reach for your wallets folks because by the time the lawyers get through with these liars we will all be paying big bucks in a settlement.”
One comment posted on the Globe and Mail’s website read: “RCMP — A farce to reckon with.”
Added someone who identified himself as Dolby Thomas from Calgary: “This man did not deserve to die.”
“It is very shameful that our so called `finest’ can act like a bunch of hyenas, just out for a kill,” wrote one man at the PolishForum.com. “There must be a public inquiry into this. Robert Dziekanski could have been any of us.”
“I hope those RCMP officers never go on a day without thinking of the innocent they killed,” said another posting on the forum.
However, another reader wrote The Canadian Press to say it was not necessary to criticize police for doing exactly what they’ve been hired to do.
“We as citizens of this city, province, country and world rely on the efforts of the RCMP ... to protect us from those viewed as a threat to our safety.”
The video of Dziekanski’s last minutes alive could be found on the Internet everywhere from YouTube to the websites of Australia’s The Daily Telegraph.
Some people criticized the media’s widespread distribution of the video, which ends with a man in a suit bending over a now still Dziekanski to see if he has a pulse.
“I’m disgusted at Yahoo and the press for showing this video,” said someone identified as Langille-Mic posting on Yahoo.ca’s news site.
“Give the man’s family some respect. They don’t need to be reminded of this unfortunate situation by the public’s need to view others’ misfortunes. Society is crumbling!”
Piotr Ogrodzinski, Poland’s ambassador to Canada, said Thursday that he was shocked by the video and said Canada’s ambassador to Poland will meet with Polish officials on Monday.
“It requires answers immediately,” Ogrodzinski told The Associated Press. “The video creates a strong impression that the police officers’ reaction was not suitable to the circumstances.”
Ogrodzinski said Dziekanski appeared helpless and made no move that would indicate that he was trying to hit anybody.
“It is really shocking. It’s so sad,” he said.
The video drew strong exchanges in the House of Commons.
Liberal Bonnie Brown said Canadians want answers after seeing the extremely disturbing video.
“Is it standard operating procedure for the RCMP to use Tasers when there is no obvious physical threat?” she asked.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he had already asked for a review related to the use of Tasers — something he did with little fanfare four days after Dziekanski died — and said both RCMP and the independent public complaints commission are investigating the death.
New Democrat public safety critic Penny Priddy said it made no sense that the RCMP is investigating itself.
“Has the government not learned lessons from the RCMP pension scandal, the Arar affair or the Ian Bush case?” Priddy asked, reminding politicians of recent RCMP controversies.
Oppal said he was shocked by the newly released video but still supported the use of Tasers.
“I think our system is based on fairness and I would want to hear what the police side of the incident is before any of us rush to judgment,” he said.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said he had not seen the entire video but called it disturbing.
“I think the important thing is to recognize first of all it’s a human tragedy, it’s going to affect everyone that’s involved in it,” he said.
“There are four separate investigations taking place right now. Obviously we want to find out how we can do much better in the future.”
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion told reporters in Victoria he had not seen the video but he called for the Mounties to review their use of the weapon.
Dion stopped short of calling for an all-out ban on Tasers.
“We know that the RCMP are reviewing the use of the Taser and this must be done because of unfortunate accidents and I want to carry the sympathy of our party to the family,” Dion said. “This unacceptable situation should be corrected.”
Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh said an RCMP review of Taser policy is not enough.
“While we understand the need of law enforcement to be able to subdue suspects in dangerous situations, Mr. Dziekanski’s tragic death and other incidents have led to questions about whether Tasers are being used appropriately,” he said in a news release.
Clear guidelines for the use of Tasers need to be formulated, said Dosanjh.
“What puzzles me is what was the brute doing stabbing his baton towards the head of the prisoner towards the end of the video...”
It looks like a collapsable baton, probably trying to get it to collapse.
There's the answer! I was trying to figure out what the heck that was all about. It looked too skinny for a standard baton. Thanks for solving the mystery.
A point also that should be made is that King took a far,far worse going over than the Polish citizen. That makes one think about this tragic death. Nobody intended serious harm, that I am sure of- still I do not know that. (JMHO). King has lead the law a merry dance since then. The damning footage of King fighting the police, was not shown, or very sparsely by the MSM.
Reginald Denny did not get the exposure either by the MSM. There is some justice. The guy that kicked him causing brain damage, Damien Williams, is doing thirty years for another crime. The other guy shot dead later.
You could hear that the man was breathing heavy and seem distress about something was he reliving?
They only taser him once but it must have been set high or the man was not heathly.
He could have been retarded and someone abandon him?
Too bad
Sadly, there is probably an airport employee out there who was asked to go look for him by his mother, but was too lazy to be bothered and didn't put up much effort to look.
Kind of the nice thing about Dog Chapman. They may be a little rough with the take down (and have Bear Mace if they need it), but they always try to make you their friend when they bring you in.
Milgram summarized the experiment in his 1974 article, "The Perils of Obedience", writing:
The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' [participants'] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' [participants'] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.
That was a convulsion.
I submit that there are two types of struggle. One is to intentionally resist arrest and the other struggle is from fear for one's life. Police need to be taught the difference so that they will know when to modify their restraining force.
Obedience to Authority, where they shocked people in lethal doses for giving the wrong answers to questions.
You succinctly said what I attempted to say.
I dunno DD. One of the security/police hanging around outside the door just before they tasered him looked like he was a wild-west gunslinger looking for an excuse.
If I'd been locked up for 18 hrs without sleep and no interpreter, I might be kinda ready for a fight too.
From the way this guy screamed out, it's horribly painful.
Maybe that would cause the cops to think a second time before they draw these things from a holster to use.
They had 4 cops and 4 airport security people there and they could rush the guy and subdue the guy like would have been done in days before tasering?
This really sucks.
You may have missed the sarcasm flowing from my post.
I've heard about the ones that didn't die also, and never deserved the tasing.
"Its like airplane crashes, you never hear about the 1,000,000 a day that don’t crash."
Airplane crashes are accidents, tasing folks unjustifiably is the act of an incompetent coward.
It reminded me of trying to get my camera monopod to collapse in a similar fashion!
A very famous study which we need to be reminded of. Thanks.
Very indicative of how folks can slip into the “I vas jus doink my job” mode.
Thought tasers were meant to subdue you, not kill you. Seems to me in this day and age they should be able to make a device that subdues a person effectively without killing them in the process. How many more have to die before something is done about this?
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