Canadian Policemen Killing a Pole (warning!)

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This is the video of Canadian policemen killing a Polish citizen at the airport:

http://wiadomosci.o2.pl/?s=258&t=430286

The procedures specify that before tasers, gas is to be used. Also, tasers are to be shot once and it was claimed that the Pole was being aggressive, which was to be why another shot was fired.

Now it looks like "aggressive" was wiggling his limbs in pain and terror. Apparently, a man lying down and waving his limbs is aggressive and poses danger to a police squad.

Now my question is why were the prodecures not followed. Why did they shoot at a man lying down and obviously waggling in pain or terror.

Wasn't this perhaps because he didn't speak English? Or maybe because he wasn't an American or Canadian or French or German citizen?

We've already had ideologies believing that someone who didn't speak a certain language or didn't come from a certain nationality wasn't fully human. Are those ideologies still present now, including countries which are supposedly paragons of democracy and progress?

 

To be honest... what was he doing? Why was he throwing stuff around and being weird? He wasn't exactly acting mentally stable. He won't have been permanently hurt, and didn't look like the kind of person who's behaviour you can predict. Police were probably right here for me. But I don't like the idea of Tazers - not really necessary.

 

Well, I can't read the Polish article, if we are to believe Chev, the guy is dead. That sounds pretty much permanently hurt if you ask me.

 

Dead from a tazer... ? He seemed to be still moving to me by the end of the video.

 

Dude, read the article. It says he died. What part of "Zauważa także, że policjanci strzelali do niego dwukrotnie z paralizatora ładunkiem 50 tys. woltów. Nie wiadomo, czy na miejsce wezwano pomoc medyczną." don't you understand?

 

For those who don't speak the language, I put the article into an online translator. This should clear things up quite a bit:

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Or there's this which is actually in english: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/15/taser.death/index.html

(For clarification, I in NO WAY mean to make light of this man's death. Only to make light of the online translator that gave me something very "backstroke of the west"-like and funny.

 

Another recent article in English (this is my first post on the new board so I hope I've properly linked to it). http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/071115/n_top_news/news_taser_col
This article highlights the incident and some of the fallout to international relations.

The controversy surrounding this keeps growing. First the RCMP acted like you can see in the video. Then they tried to confiscate the video tape. They'd originally promised return it to the guy who made it and handed it over, but then claimed that they might hold onto it for a few years. This was addressed in a suit against the RCMP that forced them to return it... doesn't really add to their PR now does it? Another issue is towards the internal review that the RCMP are conducting. Many want it done by an independent. Go figure.

As this thread's existence illustrates, the man's unjust treatment (With four officers, why not try to restrain\cuff him before tasering) and subsequent death is being watched by many. Also, this is another example of why the Taser needs to be reexamined. Sure, it reduces incidents involving guns, but its becoming too much of a first response weapon for my liking - not to mention the foolish use at the hands of people apparently trained in its operation.

Also, an article on how the tape appears to contradict the police: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/071114/national/airport_taser

 

He had spent 10 hours at the airport without knowing the language, which probably triggered some extreme stress reaction. The police violated the procedures - they should have used pepper gas first and then, even after the first taser shot, the second one was completely unnecessary and it was fired when he was already waggling on the ground.

Here's a translation of the article. Quotations won't match because I translated back from Polish, as I didn't have enough time to look for the original English ones:

[start]

After the coming into light of the recording made by one of the witnesses at the Vancouver airport, the media in Canada are shocked and outraged with the use of force by the Police on the Pole who - as it has turned out - was not aggressive.

The recording displayed Wednesday evening has caused the death of the 40 year old Robert Dziekański and comments on the actions of the police to become the main subject of Canadian press and television on Thursday.

According to the daily "Toronto Star", the recording shows the Pole died in torment, "giving out animal screams." The newspaper points out the film was so drastic that the mother of the Pole could not watch the entirety of the recording, which was constantly being repeated in the media.

The daily paper underlines that the recording negates that - as the Police claimed before - Dziekański was being aggressive. "In his eyes was evident terror" - it quotes witnesses. It points out also that the policemen fired at him twice from a taser with a charge of 50 thousand Volt. It is not known whether medical assistance was called.

According to the police, after the first shot, the man remained, "able to fight" - writes Toronto Star. The newspaper brings it to attention, however, that the local procedures recommend the use of a baton or pepper gas.

The investigation in the case of the Pole's death may take up to six weeks.

Responsible for matters of public safety in the shadow cabinet of the opposing New Democratic Party, Mike Farnworth says in "Vancouver Sun" that what the film shows, "is horrible, very drastic." He points out the necessity of conducting an independent investigation in this case. "The society will see it and will ask many questions," says the politician.

Another important daily from British Columbia - "The Province" - makes readers familiar with the history of the recording made by a tourist coming back from China. The 25 year old Paul Pritchard shot it from the distance of 3 metres from the place of action. It lasts 10 minutes whole.

The author adds that the police received the video immediately and did not want to return it. It gave it back only after Pritchard petitioned the court for its return. He passed it immediately to the attorney representing the mother of Dziekański, Mrs Zofia Cisowska.

"The death of the Polish-born Mr Dziekański was shocking and probably avoidable (...). The mind cringes at the thought that a human is able to invent the taser, but not able to work out a method of intervention in such a delicate situation without killing a human being," writes Toronto-based The Globe and Mail in its op-ed.

The main point in the newspaper's reflections is the application of tasers and the results of their use. In Canada, over the last five years, 17 people have already died at the hands of policemen using that weapon.

[end]

 

If you ask me, they should have skipped the gas and the taser, and gotten the man a ****ing translator. It was obvious to all the bystanders that a translator was needed. Why wasn't it to the cops?

 

I'm not touching that one with a 10 foot pole. Especially considering that I live in Canada, and the Mounties always get their man! I'm in no hurry to get tasered...

Seriously, I think I heard about this. The guy died later in police custody if I remember correctly...

 

Actually, he died from getting tasered a second time....

 

How much of a shock do tasers give out? Two shouldn't really kill a man should it?

 

I had no idea that a taser can kill

 

That's a shocking news, actually I read it this morning in the paper or on the internet not sure. I think it's the proof of post 9/11 paranoia is still present in the western world. Airport security level have gone higher and higher since 9/11, well it seems this is the result of paranoia. Personaly I would've asked for someone who speak Polish before resorting to violence. Especially hard to swallow since Canada is supposed to welcome everyone. I can't believe this senseless violence has gone here...

Anyway my opinion remains the same, airport security has gone mad.

 

and

If I didn't know better, I'd say you guys were making light of this man's death. I think it's a pretty poor choice of words on your part.

Barmy - while Tasers aren't SUPPOSED to kill people, it has happened in the past. Obviously, if Tasers routinely killed people then there would be no reason for police to use them instead of guns.

 

Tasers tend to kill when the tasee has a pre-existing condition that the 50,000 volts sets off. The stress of your first flight in your life being half way around the world and then being stuck in a strange airport for 10 hours probably had his stress and blood pressure through the roof. The kneeling on his chest and neck most likely didn't help, either.

 

50K Volt in this case.

And it looks like he had surrendered. Can't go further than putting hands over your head.

 

What a load.

 

It was a really sad incident. They aired an interview with the mother on TV last night. She came over to the airport from Kamloops and was waiting for the guy for 6 hours in the designated waiting area. Since he didn't know any English and didn't have the wits to follow all the other people going out that way, they never met. The mother tried finding her son's name on the list of passengers but was told there was no Dziekański on the plane and told her to go home. (I seriously question why a name search would fail...) So she left, drove ~4 hours back home, found a message on the answering machine that he was there, caught a train all the way back to the airport, and found out her son died in such a careless way.

I feel really bad for her. They were THAT close to meeting and none of this would have happened. If only someone had just taken the effort to be slightly more patient and helpful to either one of them...

 

It underlines to me that the label non-lethal is highly misleading and suggests careless use. Along Paracelsus line about poison: (a) Every weapon is a weapon, and (b) thus can kill, depending on the intensity of its use. Just because it doesn't bleed, it doesn't mean it doesn't kill. It is worth keeping in mind that there is a reason why cops aren't armed with cushions, simply because cushions don't hurt. The whole point of cops being armed is to enable them to coerce unwilling people into complying with the police if necessary, and to overcome resistance.

Tasers got vastly popular especially in the US after the police equipment market exploded after 911, and there is an increasing number of cases being reported where people have been killed by excessive use of Tasers, or where the repeated use of Tasers amounted to torture. Tasers look much nicer and more ambiguous than those old field telephones. One can always claim the need to restrain a refractory prisoner. In a nutshell, they are hardware fixes for software problems. More on Tasers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr511392004

The language barrier is another point. I mean this is an airport. And when you're unable to communicate misunderstandings happen, which can be fatal. We had cases in Germany where people who didn't speak German suffocated when being arrested by the police. How could that happen? They initially resisted and were restrained. When they appeared to continue to resist that then was because they couldn't breathe with a cop on their back, let alone speak, and tried to get a breath, which in return was interpreted as resistance by the cop, who then used more force to restrain that particularly stubborn prisoner.

This is the effect of piss poor training, period.