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 Editorials | Opinions | November 2007 
Police, Tasers and Foreign Travellers: A Deadly Mixture
 Michael Werbowski - PVNN
The Vancouver incident which resulted in the death of an immigrant raises questions about the usage of “non lethal force”
On 14 October 2007 at Vancouver International Airport, a 40-year-old Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after he was tasered by the RCMP. The now infamous fatal stun gun “incident” at the airport terminal has it seems changed the “rules of engagement” in the post 9/11 world in which police forces have been given, all but a carte blanche to use “non lethal” force on unarmed individuals.
By “non lethal” I mean the taser or stun gun, which works a bit like a mini harpoon or better yet an air gun. A human “target” receives a charge of 50,000 volts from two “darts” or projectiles propelled by compressed air from an optimum distance of about two or three meters or at the maximum distance of ten meters. Wires which are attached to the gun act as an electric conduit for the high voltage charge (1).
Tasers are known in the business as “Electroshock weapons” because they deliver an intense, powerful jolt of electricity to their victim(s). The Taser is an acronym for a “Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle” and was developed by its inventor Jack Cover back in 1969(2). In the case of Robert Dziekanski, whose last minutes alive have been documented thanks to a cellphone user, this form of “electroshock therapy” meant to immobilse and restraint a suspect led to fatal consequences.
The taser is less lethal in theory than a traditional weapon used by Police such as revolver or pistol, yet its effects on the human body are far more perfidious than a firearm it seems. Researchers who have developed this devise and those who have marketed the weapon have failed to provide convicing evidence to the public at large on two key points which are these: that the delivery of 50.000 volts to the human body does not result in permanent damage to the vital organs. And the other, that applying such a “lighting bolt” of power to the body does not result in cardiac arrest or heart failure which may have been the casue the death of the tasered man by police. This is yet to be determined by the inquest.
Welcome to Canada! And return in a casket?
What is shocking (no pun intended) and sinister and even somewhat depraved is how newly arrived immigrants are treated by officials and authorities upon arrival in a reputably civilized, G-7 member country. We often hear tales of abuse at airports and prisons in nations not too concerned about their citizens’ rights. But this “incident” is unbecoming of a country which preaches the precepts and sanctity of human rights abroad.
In the case of Robert Dziekanki this individual was not treated, in a humane way. In fact he was treated not much better than a caged domestic animal arriving at an airport and kept in secure compound without food or water. The world can witness the disturbing and stunning video of four armed (in the traditional sense) RCMP officers overpowering and pinning the man to the ground before electrocuting him twice with what turned out to be not one but two deadly charges.
The incident was caught by an a witness (unwitting citizen reporter perhaps) by the name Paul Prichard using a cell phone and is now visible world wide and carried on You Tube, Daily Motion and Live Leak. The footage reveals a disturbing sequence of events. In the video, there appears to be no resistance to the officers on duty who accost Dziekanski. He seems to step back in fright and flinches somewhat like a cornered animal surprised by an attack of from a pack of hungry hyenas. Indeed, the individual was very agitated and potentially violent perhaps needed to be restrained but he apparently according to the video does not appear to be threat either to himself nor to others in the airport as he was placed in a “secured area”.
Who then gave the orders to use non lethal force on the man and why was this deemed necessary? There are other many unanswered questions which must come to light related to this “incident”. Such as where the immigration officials upon his arrival were; and why did it take over ten hours to have him processed and his baggage checked through customs?
Mr. Dziekanski, who came to Canada as an immigrant clearly must have gone through a very lengthy and stringent selection process by the Canadian embassy in Warsaw in preparation for his migration to his new land. Officials must have been very well aware who he was and that he was coming and what plane and flight he was on. Canadian immigration officials must have had his file well beforehand and knew this most likely: (a) that he was a not a criminal- nor a fugitive (b) he was unarmed and (c) he did not appear to be dangerous at the time of his arrival at Vancouver airport.
It would be stretching the limits of credibility that in the post 9/11 world of intense surveillance, sophisticated data collection and extraordinary security at airports that no one knew that a man from a foreign country who does not speak the native tongues arrived that day from Poland after a 15 hour fight.
Exercising restraint or using Excessive Force?
Why then was there no Polish interpreter at airport send to greet him? It boggles the mind that in a country which absolutely depends on immigrations as it “life blood” to pay taxes, build up and start business and consume and has a huge “immigration industry” which orchestrates massive public campaigns abroad to lure newcomers from the four corners go the globe in order to keep its economy going and received nearly a quarter of million landed immigrants year that such basic steps were not taken. How can one justify such an egregious omission?
Are the airport authorities so inept and so incompetent that they are not prepared to handle, process whatever the official jargon may be, newcomers who speak neither of Canada’s official languages? Are Canadian airports becoming armed camps were those who are expected to enforce “law and order” run amok tasing anyone who may be deemed dangerous or act or behave in a manner judged as suspect or that might be considered by the roaming tasers squads as dangerous to others? What kind of a message does this “incident” send to potential visitor immigrants, business investors, tourists seeking to come to Canada?
It will be interesting to watch as more details come to light how federal transport ministry The RCMP and the minister of public security will try to justify this aberrant display of excess and absolutely unwarranted use force. It will also be interesting see if body of the victim will be handed over to Polish diplomatic corps so that they can conduct their own thorough post mortem investigation and make the their own independent assessment and autopsy, while drawing their own conclusions.
Any attempts to cover up, impede an investigation or to exonerate those responsible for this botched intervention will likely further damage the credibility of the RCMP and negatively impact Canada Polish relations at all levels and by extension on Canada/Brussels ties as the victim of this sordid affair originates in an EU member state. Already this week the Polish government by means of its foreign ministry has officially announced that there could be criminal charges filed in wake of the incident to prosecute those responsible for the death of Mr. Dziekanski.
Furthermore, possibly according to a diplomatic source Brussels might investigate the incident and the impact it might have on transatlantic travel as well. In any case an inquest will and must be held. Its findings must be made public eventually. No doubt there will be attempts to whitewash the “incident” and bury or stifle it beneath a massive bureaucratic sarcophagus or tomb of silence.
Nevertheless, a full and impartial inquest will be held both in Canada and perhaps over seas as well to examine who gave the orders to use the stun gun to “neutralize” the individual in question. Obviously, officers ordered to the scene were aware the man was deeply distressed, and yes, potentially aggressive. Then but then who would be ice cool and phlegmatic if left to languish in detention without any justification at airport cage for 10 hours and after a 15 hour flight? Yet no one apparently at the airport bothered to take the most elementary and sensible step to try to neither neither reach the victim’s mother nor contact the Polish consulate in neither Vancouver nor an interpreter who speaks Polish.
If no one is held accountable and responsible for this brazen act of police brutality and if this “incident” does not serve as a clarion call for a drastic change to the “rules of engagement” which govern the usage of tasers and if this incident goes unpunished, then air travelers like us all can expect more ghoulish videos of “stun gun fun” posted on the internet and in the news media in the future.
A strict code of conduct and rigorous procedural rules must be enacted by governments and bodies such as the IATA (air and transport association) to prevent a repetition of the Vancouver airport tragedy in the wake of the events of October 14th. As for Robert D. who dreamed of starting a better life with his mother in Canada, in the span of several seconds and two stun gun shots to the body his brief immigrant experience ended tragically before it even began.
(1) Taserx26.com
(2) En.wikipedia.org/wiki/electrosock/weapon
Michael Werbowski is a freelance reporter who specializes in environmental issues. He studied at the University of Leeds, UK and did his MA dissertation topic on EU enlargement to the nations of "new" central Europe. In 2005, he has lectured in Prague's Anglo American college "on corporate ethics and media coverage." As a reporter he covered and commented on issues related to EU and NATO enlargement for the prominent Czech daily "Lidove Noviny" and the "Prague Post." He has written news and commentary for newspapers such "El Excelsior" and "Tiempos del Mundo" in Mexico City. For his environmental coverage of the Chalillo dam controversy in Belize he was awarded an honorable mention for best reporting in 2003 by the Mexican journalists' club.
Mr. Werbowski currently writes for several internet news Web sites among them Worldpress.org, OhMyNews International and UpsidedownWorld.org mainly on environmental topics in Latin America. His articles have appeared translated from English into Spanish and French in magazines and newspapers and Web sites world wide. |
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