vagabond

Good God! What is this world coming to? The RCMP is behaving like animals. Just a warning, the video was very painful to watch.

From CNN:

A video showing the last moments of a Polish immigrant, who died after Canadian police shot him with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport, has been made public.


This image from video shows an agitated Robert Dziekanski, left, before police used a stun gun on him.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, was traveling to join his mother, who lives in British Columbia, when he ended up spending about 10 hours in the airport's arrivals area, The Canadian Press said.

The video shows Dziekanski, who had never flown before, becoming agitated. It then shows Mounties purportedly shocking Robert Dziekanski with a Taser device after confronting him. Dziekanski did not speak English.

The recording was captured by bystander Paul Pritchard on October 14 and was in police hands until he threatened legal action and it was returned to him last week, The Canadian Press reported. Watch as police stun man with Taser »

"Probably the most disturbing part is one of the officers uses his leg and his knee to pin his neck and his head to the ground," Pritchard told CBC News.

The dead man's mother, Zofia Cisowski, told CBC News that Tasers should not be used by police.


"They should do something because that is a killer, a people killer."

The incident is being investigated by police, Canada's national police complaints commission and by the coroner, CBC News reported. E-mail to a friend

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ...ath/index.html

FDXLAG

Get rid of the tazer and go back to bullets.

POPA

It's good to finally see a video of cops not standing idly by while somebody throws a tantrum at the airport. I don't care what language the guy spoke, he had no right to act like a five-year-old who didn't get a candy bar at the supermarket. While it's unfortunate that he died, I think the RCMP was quite justified in tasering Dziekanski.

Planespotta

That's not the point. Am I correct in saying that the Mounties tasered him twice? Once is more than enough. And why did that one officer need to pin the victim's neck to the ground with his knee while the other guy kneeled on his back? Awfully unecessary. Only one Mounty is needed to handcuff a guy who's just been hit with 50,000 volts. It seems that tasers create more problems (esp. legal ones) than they avert.

Danzig

I agree with POPA. It is unfortunate that he died, but he should have maintained a more composed demeanor, despite his confusion.

I do not think that unnecessary force was used. The officers were ensuring that they would be able to make a quick arrest. Furthermore, 50,000 volts did not immobilize the man as it should. Another shot was not necessary, but several arrest makers were. By working in a group and overpowering the individual, they were ensuring their own safety and that of the bystanders.

mike734

Death penalty for a temper tantrum. Nice one Lag. Once again you show your true colors.

Planespotta

The police will have a good time trying to explain that one to his mother.

FDXLAG

And once again Mike you can't see the forest cause all them darn trees are blocking your view. The tazer was designed to replace those bad, mean, and nasty guns. What you don't understand is tazers don't kill people; overzealous RCMPs kill people. I am peacful man, I think we should do away with all forms of restraint since that chik in PHX bought it.

vagabond

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that a man died in this incident. Quite unnecessarily, I might add. I don’t know what RCMP policy is on dealing with an obviously distraught man, but I’m sure “within reason” is somewhere in there. Given that it was one man against at least four heavily armed men, I say tasering him twice with 50,000 volts is beyond reason. Then to kneel on his head and neck adds insult to injury.

On the flip side, a very good friend of mine is a sergeant at the Big Blue House (Seattle PD) and we discuss police tactics all the time. After a 20+ year career chasing down suspects, his perspective is very different from my own. He is fond of telling me that unless I walk in their shoes, I will never understand what it’s like to go to work every day wearing body armor, carry a gun and handcuffs, and knowing there is always a chance that he’ll be killed in the line of duty.

Slice

I won't pass judgment on the cops since I wasn't there and the tape was edited. However, after taking the guy down I see no problem with the knee on the neck. It's used to maintain positive control of the suspect until he is handcuffed. If he hadn't been tazed he'd still be alive...he'd also still be alive if he'd acted like a civilized person. As a guy who now visits several countries where I often don't speak the language, I know enough to cooperate with the authorities and use common sense.