RCMP Watch

Jonathan Woodward (National Post) - RCMP officers refused to take handcuffs off Robert Dziekanski, despite a request from firefighters who said the Polish immigrant was not breathing and did not have a pulse, according to a Richmond Fire-Rescue report.

It was not until paramedics arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, about a minute later, that police relented and removed the cuffs so that the paramedics and firefighters could start CPR, the report said.

“We were doing our assessment, and we found no breath and no pulse,” said Geoff Lake, the deputy chief of Richmond Fire-Rescue, in a telephone interview where he read from the report.

That account differs from an RCMP statement released yesterday, which said that after being Tasered, Mr. Dziekanski displayed vital signs until firefighters arrived that night.

“He was breathing and had a pulse, and so first aid was not required,” Corporal Dale Carr of the RCMP said.

Officers decided not to remove the handcuffs because they were concerned that Mr. Dziekanski could continue to fight back, Cpl. Carr said.

“Upon the arrival of Richmond fire department, a request was made to have the handcuffs removed,” Cpl. Carr said. “Officers did not at the time remove them because officers had a safety concern.”

The contradictory accounts about the state of Mr. Dziekanski’s welfare are sure to inject more controversy into the events and the investigations surrounding his death.

Mr. Dziekanski arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14 to start a new life in Canada. But after 10 hours in the arrival lounge, he became agitated, police were called, and he was shocked at least once with a Taser.

Police officers, who are trained in CPR and first aid, and an airport security officer were monitoring Mr. Dziekanski’s vital signs after he fell unconscious, Cpl. Carr said.

At that point — 1:34 a.m., according to Richmond Fire-Rescue records — they sent out a routine call for medical help, which calls both firefighters and medical workers.

At 1:40 a.m., firefighters, who have more advanced first aid training, arrived and checked Mr. Dziekanski, Mr. Lake said.

“The patient was in handcuffs,” he said. With no pulse and no breathing, they requested the handcuffs be removed, he said.

“When BCAS [the ambulance] arrived, they were removed.”

Paramedics have the highest training of emergency workers, many with advanced life-support training.

According to BCAS records, the ambulance arrived at 1:41 a.m., BCAS communications staff said.

But the staff added they could not give any more information because a coroner’s inquest is underway.

Mr. Lake also would not describe the medical treatment, except to confirm that workers used defibrillators. The firefighters finally left the scene 20 minutes later, at 2 a.m.

It is possible that Mr. Dziekanski’s breathing rate and pulse could have ceased in the short time between the final police assessment and the fire department’s assessment, Mr. Lake said.

“You can take a pulse on someone one minute, and the next minute take a pulse and there is no pulse.”

Meanwhile, Vancouver police Tasered a woman after a confrontation in an apartment in yesterday.

The 46-year-old woman called 911 and threatened to kill her landlord. Police arrived to find the woman barricaded in her fifth-floor apartment, where she stood on the other side of the door and screamed at the officers and threatened them.

Two hours after her 911 call, Vancouver police Constable Howard Chow said, the woman came out of her apartment, brandishing five knives and a pair of scissors.

She advanced toward the officers, ignoring their orders, and was Tasered.

Const. Chow said the woman, who is in hospital being assessed for mental illness, is facing a number of charges. No one was injured.