Vancouver, B.C. (Canadian Press) - One year after a would-be Polish immigrant died after being jolted by an RCMP Taser at Vancouver International Airport, his mother remains frustrated by a lack of answers, says her lawyer.
Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after being shocked by a Taser as four Mounties confronted the agitated man early on the morning of Oct. 14, 2007.
Zofia Cisowski’s lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, said Tuesday that a stalled inquiry into the incident that made international headlines means a difficult situation has become even worse for Dziekanski’s mother.
Kosteckyj said Cisowski hasn’t been able to work since her ordeal began and can no longer afford the counselling she received to help her deal with her only son’s death, for which no one has taken responsibility.
“The thing that she finds the hardest to deal with is the fact that this inquiry, which was promised to her, there seems to be endless reasons why it gets delayed,” Kosteckyj said.
“Here we have an event that took 20 seconds from the time the police arrived to the time that they Tasered him and now it’s taken a year to conduct the investigation and to make the determination as to whether or not anybody was at fault, criminally,” Kosteckyj said.
He said Cisowski went to the airport Tuesday morning to leave some flowers and light a candle to mark the one-year anniversary of her son’s death, which thwarted her dreams of a life with him in Canada.
A public memorial will be held in Cisowski’s hometown of Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday.
The inquiry was set to resume next week but was postponed until Nov. 12 because the Crown has not yet decided if any of the RCMP officers involved in Dziekanski’s death will be charged.
The RCMP has said it can’t participate in the inquiry until after the Crown makes a decision, expected sometime this month.
Officers were called to the international arrivals area of the airport when Dziekanski began throwing furniture after wandering for hours in the customs area of the building where he was supposed to meet his mother.
A video shot by a witness showed officers used the Taser on Dziekanski within seconds of arriving at the airport.
Use of the weapon, and the subsequent police handling of the case, has sparked several investigations, including the B.C. public inquiry.
Kosteckyj said he’s baffled that police took so long to present a report to the Crown.
He said Cisowski is also questioning why the RCMP initially said the Mounties tried to calm Dziekanski down before using the Taser, something that’s not evident in the video.
“The most troubling aspect is there’s never been a full and frank explanation (of that),” Kosteckyj said.
Cisowski had waited at the airport in vain for her son for about eight hours, finally taking a bus back to Kamloops after thinking he’d missed the flight.
When she arrived home at about 2 a.m., a phone message from an Immigration Canada employee informed her son was at the airport.
Kosteckyj said Cisowski was euphoric about finally reuniting with her son and returned to the airport, only to later learn he’d already been dead for an hour when the phone message was left at her home.
Kosteckyj said that when Cisowski arrived at the airport for a second time, she was asked about her son’s health and whether he had a heart condition instead of immediately being told he was dead.
One of the major criticisms in the case has been a lack of translation services at the airport for Dziekanski, who spoke only Polish.
Don Ehrenholz, vice-president of operations for the Vancouver Airport Authority, said the facility has made over 30 changes to ensure that non-English-speaking visitors receive the support they need.
He said translation services are available in 170 languages by phones that allow both the passenger and an airport employee to speak directly to an interpreter.
Ehrenholz said up to six customer care representatives work behind an information counter and patrol the international arrivals area during peak times.
Visitors can also have their names placed on an electronic “greeter board” so those waiting for them are aware they’ve arrived, he said, adding the changes provide newcomers to Canada the best services of any airport in North America.
“We’ve made sure that we’ve put staff and services in the process where we believe that there was not enough information available to the passengers that are arriving,” Ehrenholz said.
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1 RCMP Watch // Oct 18, 2008 at 20:48
Questions still unanswered year after Tasered man died
October 15, 2008
Petti Fong, Toronto Star
Western Canada Bureau Chief
VANCOUVER–One year later, questions remain about the circumstances surrounding Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski’s death after he was shot with a Taser gun.
Crown counsel had said a decision would be made by the second week of October about whether there will be criminal charges against the four RCMP officers present at the incident in the Vancouver airport.
But that deadline is set to lapse this week with no word from the criminal justice branch on charges or if more time is needed to consider the evidence of an RCMP investigation.
Dziekanski, 40, died on Oct. 14, 2007, after he was Tasered by RCMP officers responding to a call at the Vancouver airport.
An inquiry into his death was supposed to start next Monday, but that has been postponed until next month.
The delay in the inquiry was needed because the RCMP made clear it did not intend to have officers testify at the inquiry.
The inquiry will now start Nov. 12. It is the second phase of a public inquiry that was announced last November after the provincial government came under intense public pressure to order one.
The first part of the inquiry heard from dozens of people testifying about the general use of the 50,000-volt weapon.
But this second part will focus on the events leading up to Dziekanski’s death.
The public inquiry is one of nearly a dozen probes called following Dziekanski’s death. Beside the criminal investigation, a coroner’s inquest will also be held and a federal MPs’ study on the use of the Taser is underway.
Dziekanski, who had just taken his first-ever flight, was left wandering for hours at the airport when his mother could not find him.
Dziekanski had left Poland to start a new life in Canada. His death angered thousands of people around the world who saw it on a video shot by a bystander who witnessed the event.
A memorial service will be held this weekend in Kamloops, where Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, lives.
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