Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.

Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after taser attack
THE CANADIAN PRESS
October 26, 2007 at 4:01 PM EDT
VANCOUVER — Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system.
The family's lawyer Walter Kosteckyj says he isn't supervised that toxicology tests on the 40-year-old man were negative as he'd been on a plane and then in a secure area of the airport for 10 hours before he died.
Robert Dziekanski was shot by a stun gun by police after police say he emerged in a violent rage from the customs area on Oct. 14. He died minutes later.
A preliminary autopsy report showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.

Mr. Kostecki said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.
A spokesman for the federal overseer of RCMP activities says two inquires have been made to the complaints commission about the police's actions that night, but no formal complaints have been filed.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after Vancouver airport incident
54 minutes ago

VANCOUVER - Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system, the family's lawyer said Friday.

Robert Dziekanski died after being shot with a stun gun by police on Oct. 14.

"I actually didn't expect there to be anything different (about the results)," said Walter Kosteckyj.

"He had been in transit for so long, he had been a secure area for nine, 10 hours and those are areas where you don't have access to food or drink."

A preliminary autopsy report earlier showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.

Kosteckyj said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.

"There is no question there is fault here and that there's legal ramifications that flow from that fault," said Kosteckyj. "The question is who all is involved?"

Vancouver Airport Authority did not return repeated calls Friday for confirmation of a reported log that shows the RCMP were called in at 1:21 a.m. to deal with a "suspect" at the airport.

Witnesses reported Dziekanski emerged into the international arrivals hall that morning in rage, throwing a computer and brandishing a stapler.

He'd been languishing in the customs and immigration hall for hours before that for reasons which still remain unclear.

Moments after they arrived on the scene, RCMP officers used a Taser gun to subdue the 40-year-old, who had come to Canada from Poland to move in with his mother in Kamloops, B.C.

A national news program reported the log also shows a four-minute lag between the time the man lost consciousness and when B.C. Ambulance crews were called in at 1:36 a.m., despite the usual presence of staff paramedics at the airport to deal with medical emergencies.

Two inquires have been made to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP about police actions that night, said a spokesman for the commission, though no formal complaints have been filed.

But the commission is already involved in the case because of a new pilot project with British Columbia that allows them to monitor investigations into police actions that cause serious death or injury.

Dziekanski's case has attracted little media attention in Poland, and his mother said a news conference on Thursday that she still had not spoken to all their family members there and in the United States about what happened.

Though referred to as Robert by his mother and police, a Polish journalist said Dziekanski's Polish first name was Dariusz and that he lived in the town of Gliwice, where he'd moved when he was a teenager.

He was coming to Canada to move in with his mother and work in construction.

Two memorials for Dziekanski are planned - one in Poland, and one in Kamloops.

The family has set up a trust fund at Valley First Credit Union to help offset legal costs.
Pole dies at Vancouver airport after being arrested

Created: Wednesday, October 17. 2007

A Polish citizen was killed Tuesday with an electric stun gun at Vancouver airport, Canada.

Witnesses say that the tragedy was caused by the victim’s insufficient knowledge of English.

Not being able to communicate with the airport workers, the man lost his temper and security treated him as they would a serious criminal.

The man died when police tried to pacify the man when he was being handcuffed.

Airport authorities firmly maintain that the man was acting aggressively.

The man threw chairs, knocked over his own luggage trolley and dropped a computer on the floor. According to the police, the 40-year old Robert D. was yelling at the top of his voice and trying to smash windows.

Taser use needs reexamination
Posted 8 hours ago
The concept of the taser - a non-lethal weapon that law enforcement can use to subdue those who might harm themselves or others - is ideally suited to our society.

In Canada, where we do not even apply the death penalty to those found guilty in a court of law, it would be very strange indeed if we supported use of deadly force by police on mere suspects.

We do not, and police do not want to use deadly force. Therefore, the advent of the taser looked like the greatest thing since sliced bread, a weapon that would subdue, but not permanently harm, unruly suspects.

Unfortunately, the reality is 17 persons have died in Canada since 2003 after being tasered, including Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, who died at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, to the great grief of his mother, who had worked two jobs to be able to afford to bring him to Canada.

The great majority of Canadians would share Sofia Cisowski's sorrow at the death of her son, as well as a profound regret that Canada served the family so badly.

Surely, we reason, a man who doesn't speak English and loses control of his emotions after a very long and tiring journey from the other side of the world deserves a better welcome than being killed.

But it is equally obvious that the officers who used the taser on Mr. Dziekanski, did so with no intention of causing him permanent harm.

That is the very purpose of the taser.

Now, it has been suggested that Mr. Dziekanski was tasered too many times - officers admit to twice, one witness insists it was four times.

Local police services in Cobourg and Port Hope have been using tasers for the past two years, with no ill-effects reported.

"They are highly effective," Port Hope's Deputy Police Chief Garry Hull told the Cobourg Daily Star.