Amateur Witness Video Reveals Facts about the Man who Died After a Taser Incident

A taser incident at the Vancouver International Airport last month caused the death of a Polish immigrant who had just arrived for the first time to Canada. This had been his first time ever that he went out of Poland. He did not speak English and was not able to navigate his way out of the international arrivals area. Due to these reasons he remained there for nearly ten hours. After such a long time he apparently became agitated at the fact that he could not find his way out. He started shouting and throwing things. A witness who was present there tried to calm him down and tried to talk to him in as many languages as she knew. That woman and another passenger present there at the time were able to make videos which were later used by the RCMP in investigations.

Interview with the Witness who made Cell Phone Video:


Recently the video of the incident was released to the public and it made the facts more clear though the RCMP are still defending their officers involved in the taser incident at the airport. A few facts that were caught by the video showed that the man was not acting properly and appeared disillusioned. It also proves that the officers made no effort to calm the man down or get an interpreter to ease his difficulty in communicating in a foreign land. According to both the people who shot the videos the man appeared to be glad that officials had finally arrived and would help him out. The video shows that when they arrived he shrugged with his hands raised and just backed away with his back towards the officers and that was when they tasered him down. One of the officers then placed his knees on his back and neck. Even when he lost consciousness, there was no attempt made to do CPR though they were trained to do so.

Interview with the Passenger who made the Full Length Video:


This incident has raised a lot of questions about the taser method applied by security officials. There have been a number of deaths in the past few years after being subdued with a stun gun. The families of the victims who have died after being tasered are strongly against this method being used frequently now. A number of international organizations are also now lobbying against the use of taser guns. On the forefront, among others is Amnesty International.

Reaction of the Man's Mother and the Polish Community to the Deadly Taser Incident:


References:
[1] http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=03824bfe-b406-45c0-b439-b3708b8b7282&k=15023