Four RCMP officers arrive, the camera panning from the frustrated looks on security guards' faces to the men in uniform striding through the hall.
Loud cries of what sound like "polizia," can be heard as the officers are told by someone that the man is behind the door and only speaks Russian.
They vault over a railing and walk Dziekanski behind the glass doors. He gestures at his luggage as they appear to be talking to him.
He throws up his hands in the air and walks away.
The officers follow, apparently indicating he should put his hands on the counter of an information desk behind the glass.
Dziekanski stands with his back to the counter and the officers fan around him.
Crack – the sound of the 50,000 volts of electricity zapping from an officer's gun can be heard.
Dziekanski winces and starts screaming, his hand waving a stapler madly in the air.
He grabs at his chest and lunges through a doorway, howling.
Crack – a second shot, electricity sizzles, and Dziekanski writhes on the ground, spinning in circles.
Police surround him again, the bystanders gasp in amazement. A voice can be heard yelling "hit him again, hit him again."
The four officers clamber on top of him, restraining his arms, his head.
Dziekanski twitches as they fight to restrain him.
Finally, he is still.Though the video doesn't show it, paramedics were called to the scene. Dziekanski died there.
The RCMP response:
"Our officers would like to comment, but there is an ongoing investigation," said Cpl. Dale Carr, a spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Team leading the investigation into the incident. A coroner's inquest has been called into what happened at the airport that night and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP has also launched their own investigation. Carr said the four officers involved in the incident that night will testify."That's the venue where they will be scrutinized," he said. "This video is one small piece of evidence. We are not making a case based on one piece of evidence."
When news first broke about the incident at the airport, police said the man they encountered was out of control. Though agitated, in the video, Dziekanski responds to bystanders and security by putting down furniture or calmly standing still. Police also said even after he was zapped once, he remained combative.
But the video shows that after the first shot, Dziekanski fell to the ground and was writhing in agony.
It might be only one ‘small’ piece of evidence but it is utterly damning and unless one is committed to being willfully deluded and/or blind; there is no way one can rationalize or justify the behaviour of the RCMP. The Mounties are reputed to be the premier police force in this country, and G-d help us all.
4 comments:
Welcome back. i hope this means you feel better.
This incident demands an explanation from the RCMP, certainly, although our media outlets don't fare too well, either.
Can't seem to find any relevant details about
1) purpose of visit -- saying hi to mom? Seeing the sights? Medical treatment? Immigrating?
2) Why was he in the secure area of Arrivals for *ten hours*?! Some accounts call this area the "customs area" implying a drug search, and others call it the "immigration processing" area. Which is it?
3) There's no Polish interpreters on-call to the GTAA should anybody step off a plane and say, declare asylum? WTF?
Naftali, the fog is lifting and I enjoyed part 1 of the first Jew and look forward to reading more - regularly - hint - hint.
Chris,
RD was joining his mother legally in Canada. There was a delay in processing his documents because at that time of day there are limited officers and translators available....though my own experience of Cdn customs/immigration officals leads me to conclude there is a litmus where only the terminally stupid and humourless are offered positions.
Of course, if someone could have gone on the PA system and asked if there was anyone in the building who spoken Russian it could have ended substantially differently. Even though RD was a Pole - given his age (mid 40) he would have been required to learned Russian as well as Polish. So a Russian would have been able to communicate with him.
The absolutely horrendous part is that his mother was waiting for his arrival on the other side of the airport.
I found a CTV web report which gives a few more details from the time of the original killing.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071016/taser_071016?s_name=&no_ads=
According to this story the guy is saying:
"I want to get out, help me find the way...Police! Police! Can't you help me?"
If that's true this is tragicomic farce. The guy gets held up because of a lack of translators, doesn't know why he's being delayed, gets frustrated and violent, and then killed.
Utterly needless death.
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