This is probably my first serious post on this blog. I so rarely touched on world events on this blog as I wanted it to be a fun, frivolous blog dedicated to everything nice. BUT the media over here has been indundating me with news and video clip of the "taser" incident which resulted in the death of a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver Airport on 14 October 2007.
I remembered watching the news after the guy died. It was sad, but only now the "real" story came out of what actually happened. The video clip has apparently made the news worldwide with CNN, BBC and other various major news agencies broadcasting the clip and story.
Background:
Apparently the guy (Robert Dziekanski) and his mother had arranged to meet at the baggage carousel without realizing that the baggage carousel is within the secured area and can't really be seen by people waiting outside. So RD, a new immigrant from Poland, could not speak English, waited inside the secured area for about 10 hours before venturing out and realized his mother was not there. The mother left after waiting for about 6 hours or something. And in the initial news report, she mentioned that she had asked the airport people for assistance, but no one has helped.
This was RD's first flight and it was a long flight from Germany into Canada. So imagine you are new to a country, exhausted, you don't see your mother. You have no idea where she is, you can't speak English, no one seemed to help you. You are probably hungry too if you are stuck inside for 10 hours and there is no food kiosk at the baggage area. I would probably feel panicky and frustrated.
No doubt RD did throw things on the floor, against the glass doors (based on the video clip). No idea what the motive was but he did put his hands up when he saw the 4 RCMPs arrived. According to news reports, RD looked exhausted and was sweating and breathing heavily and looked scared, and was maybe glad the police came as he probably thought they could help him. Instead he got tasered at least twice. The police hardly spoke to him at all. Within 30 seconds of arrival, he got tasered. I believe each shot delivered about 50,000 volts of electricity.
Although tests had been done, it was in controlled environment where the subjects were calm and "normal". In most cases when the tasers were used, the subjects were usually highly stressed. And the jolt delivered could be potentially fatal as it can cause erratic heartbeats. And if the subjects have alcohol or drugs in its body, or pacemakers or other kind of illnesses, definitely the electric delivered could cause adverse effects.
The government here is still investigating the matter and the coroner is also finding out the actual cause of death. But seriously, even if the taser is not the one which killed RD. The fact that he was shot at least twice with it must be a contributing factor to either cause cardiac arrest or something. I think this is akin to execution in an electric chair. The fact that one of the RCMP officers seemed to put his weight down on RD's neck probably contribute to his death too. I really wonder how the 4 officers can sleep at night, knowing that they actually killed an innocent person who did no harm, except throwing things on the floor.
The video clip is chilling and heart-breaking. To witness the screams of a man dying. And this is not a movie, it is real.
Another black mark against the RCMP was the wrong information given in the beginning when the death of RD made the news. The spokesperson said RD was struggling/combative even after being tasered, and there were only 3 officers on the scene. The video clip showed clearly that there were 4 officers and the taser was used within 30 seconds of arrival and they didn't even ask RD what was wrong etc. And RD was shown screaming in agony and falling down on the ground, curling up in pain. Yet he was still being tasered and had the officers falling on him. It was just too much.
The questions on everyone's minds are likely:
1. why was there no interpreter
2. why was no help rendered to RD when he was in the baggage area for 10 hours
3. how could someone be in the area for so long without anyone noticing something was amiss
4. why did the rcmp use the taser so quickly
5. what is the proper procedure for using the taser
6. why didn't the airport people help RD's mom with her query
I know the police in Vancouver has been getting a bad rep. I hear complaints about them all the time from friends, how they think they are above the law and are inept and just not much help. My friend's car was broken into twice. Today the news reported on a prisoner who escaped from prison.
Vancouver is indeed getting more dangerous. Every week there is news on shooting and someone dying. Too many gangland wars too. The police is also in the news every week. Whether it is on how they are trigger-happy with tasering or how one of them died in the line of duty.
But this RD incident is just senseless. No one tried to diffuse the situation at all. I wonder how they will handle major crisis situation. And Vancouver is going to host the Winter Olympics in 2010. Can the airport officials cope with a huge influx of visitors who will likely not understand English at all? Can the police officers be law-abiding too and not think they are above the law?
Some may think also why RD didn't have any documents or piece of paper showing his mother's name and address or something? Who knows? If you have never traveled before or always lived in a small town, chances are you may not realize the procedures. Plus every country/city has its own why of handling things.
The news on this is everywhere. Just do a google on taser vancouver and you can read more about it. Just sad.
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