Neal Hall, Vancouver, BC (Vancouver Sun) – The death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport was caused by excessive use of force by the RCMP and a failure of the system to guide the visitor, the Braidwood inquiry was told Monday.
In his final submission, lawyer Walter Kosteckyj, representing Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, urged the inquiry commissioner, Thomas Braidwood, to recommend that the RCMP’s use-of-force training model to be scrapped.
He also urged the commissioner to recommend that a provincial police force be created to replace the use of the RCMP in B.C.
“There has to be a recommendation that a provincial police force must be put in place,” Kosteckyj said.
He added the RCMP “by not being answerable to the (provincial) legislature is undemocratic.”
The commissioner has the authority to find fault and make recommendations to the provincial government in his report.
Dziekanski, 40, died at about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 14, 2007 at Vancouver International Airport after he was Tasered five times and restrained by four Mounties..
The weary traveller had arrived at the airport about 10 hours earlier after a long flight from Poland.
He had come to Canada to live with his mother and start a new life.
His mother had told her son to stay in the baggage carousel area and she would meet him there.
She didn’t realize it, but the international arrivals baggage carousel was in a secure area, not accessible to people waiting for loved ones in the greeting lounge.
Dziekanski, who spoke no English, stayed in the secure area for about eight hours and never connected with his mother, who eventually returned home to Kamloops after being told her son could not be found.
Part of the systemic failure, Kosteckyj said, was the failure to get Dziekanski an interpreter.
“We were told how easy it was to get translation services,” the lawyer said.
“An interpreter should have assisted Dziekanski.”
A Canada Border Services Agency employee noticed Dziekanski walking around the customs area – about eight hours after he was initially processed – and led him to the exit to the public area.
Dziekanski, appearing exhausted and unable to find his mother, became frustrated and started throwing around furniture and threw a computer on the floor, prompting a 911 call to police.
“He had been traveling in excess of 30 hours and had no idea where his family was,” Kosteckyj said.
He added that a citizen started yelling at Dziekanski, who got mad and threw things around.
Four officers arrived and gave Dziekanski conflicting orders – one told him to produce his papers, but when he tried to get his passport from his luggage, another officer told him not to go into his baggage and ordered the man to stand over by a counter.
Dziekanski threw up his arms and grabbed a stapler, which the police took as a threatening move.
“Mr. Dziekanski was having an emotional crisis and these police officers should have been able to see that,” Kosteckyj said.
He added police should have tried to defuse and resolve the situation without using force.
Just before one of the officers deployed his stun gun, Dziekanski said in Polish: “Have you lost your mind?”
They were his final words.
Dziekanski fell down and began writhing on the floor when he was first Tasered for five seconds.
Police initially thought Dziekanski was resisting arrest, but the inquiry was told that Const. Kwesi Millington, the officer with the Taser, kept pulling the trigger four more times, causing Dziekanski’s muscles to contract.
“I submit to you that the third, fourth and fifth deployments were gratuitous and unnecessary,” Kosteckyj said.
He added that once police had handcuffed Dziekanski’s hands behind his back, police failed to properly care for the man while in custody.
One officer testified Dziekanski turned blue and his breathing sounded like he was snoring.
But the officer who testified he was monitoring Dziekanski’s breathing and pulse said he didn’t see the man turn blue.
“How is it possible to be monitoring someone turning blue and not notice it?” Kosteckyj asked.
He estimated Dziekanski was unconscious for about six minutes before the ambulance arrived.
Firefighters, who were first on the scene, believed Dziekanski was dead when he was examined.
One of the firefighters was also critical of police refusing to remove the handcuffs from Dziekanski so he could be properly assessed.
Kosteckyj urged the inquiry to make a finding that the Taser jolts were the primary cause of Dziekanski’s death.
He said the four Mounties who arrived at the scene failed to act professionally but instead acted in panic, then provided statements to justify their actions.
Grace Pastine, the lawyer representing the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said in her final submission that the Dziekanski’s death outraged the public and has become a symbol of police wrongdoing.
She said Dziekanski was tired and confused, being unable to find his mother at the airport after leaving home 31 hours earlier.
Dziekanski needed help and understanding, she said, but was met with an almost immediate Taser response.
“They failed to communicate,” Pastine said.
“Dziekanski needed help and understanding,” she told the inquiry.
“Each of the Taser deployments constituted an unjustified use of force,” she said.
The use of the Taser, she added, was “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified.”
The officers also failed to provide Dziekanski with proper medical attention after he was handcuffed, Pastine said.
She said the four officers provided a “self-serving and misleading interpretation of the evidence in order to justify their actions.”
The officers made statements that Dziekanski raised the stapler swung it toward police and advanced toward the officers, which the bystander’s video proved were false recollections.
She said the RCMP Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre made three factual errors immediately after Dziekanski’s death – he said three officers were involved, that Dziekanski was Tasered twice and had to be wrestled to the ground.
The fact that the RCMP decided not to correct these errors for 14 months shows a “shocking disregard for the public’s right to know,” Pastine said.
The RCMP then provided the media with inappropriate speculation about Dziekanski, suggesting he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he died, which proved to be untrue, she added.
There were also major errors with the police investigation of Dziekanski’s death, Pastine said, pointing out that the four officers involved were allowed to remain together before giving statements.
She said the incident shows that when a civilian dies in police custody, police should not investigate their fellow officers.
“Police are entrusted with protecting lives. And when they fail to do so they must be held accountable,” Pastine concluded.
The Polish government is disappointed that no criminal charges were laid against the RCMP officers involved in the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Braidwood inquiry was told Monday.
But the Republic of Poland appreciates that the B.C. Government established the inquiry and allowed the Polish government to participate, said the letter, which was read out by Don Rosenbloom, the lawyer representing Poland.
“We are confident that your finding and recommendations will contribute significantly, both domestically and internationally, to understanding how a fairly minor event can escalate to such a tragic end,” the letter said.
“The release of the video recording of the death of our national, Robert Dziekanski…while difficult to watch, has personalized this tragedy to millions of citizens in Canada. In Poland and, indeed, in the rest of the world.”
The ambassador said “justice must be achieved, responsibility determined and wrong-doers be made accountable through criminal prosecution.”
Rosenbloom argued Dziekanski’s death was caused by “a total breakdown in the operations” of the airport.
He said perhaps the legacy of his death is the fact that translator services now are readily available at the airport.
He said Dziekanski’s interaction with police did not justify any use of force.
“Mr. Dziekanski, on first contact, wasn’t aggressive but was calm and compliant,” Rosenbloom said.
He said when police first arrived, Dziekanski said “Polician policia,” indicating he was relieved that police had arrived to help him.
“There is an alarming lack of communication among the officers at the scene,” he said.
He added police gave Dziekanski conflicted commands, then concluded he was defiant, so Tasered him.
“The foundation for the police Tasering was the resistant and defiant conduct,” Rosenbloom said.
But the video shows Dziekanski obeying the officers before he was shot with 50,000 volts from the stun gun, he said.
“Our position is that absolutely no force was called for,” the lawyer said.
He argued that the inquiry commissioner should also find misconduct against all four officers for failing to provide proper medical attention to Dziekanski “while he was dying on the floor.”
Rosenbloom will continue his submission Tuesday at the inquiry.
A total of 15 lawyers will make final submissions.
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