Mike on Crime

By Greg Joyce
THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — The mother of a man who died after being hit by an RCMP Taser at Vancouver airport says her faith in the national police force has been shattered.
Zofia Cisowski told a B.C. public inquiry into the use of Tasers that she wants truth, justice and accountability for the death of her son, Robert Dziekanski.
“My son did not deserve the treatment he encountered at Vancouver airport,” she said during her brief submission Thursday.
Cisowski said she hopes the inquiry will result in changes “so other mothers don’t experience so much pain as I do.”
She dabbed at her eyes with a handerkerchief as she addressed the inquiry, as well as during a more lengthy submission from her lawyer Walter Kosteckyj.
Kosteckyj renewed his call for a complete moratorium on the use of the shock weapons.
He said officers need to take their time but having a Taser on hand seems to actually reduce that time.
“The conducted energy weapon has become an easy answer to deal with any stressful situation,” he said. “Taser seems to reduce thinking time.”
In Dziekanski’s case, he said “officers didn’t take their time and they embarrassed the country.”
Others at the inquiry have called for the Taser to be moved on the police use-of-force scale, but Kosteckyj said that’s not enough.
“A complete moratorium must be put in place until safety concerns are answered,” he told the inquiry.
The current phase of the public inquiry is looking into Taser use by law enforcement in general. Later, the commission will look specifically into Dziekanski’s death.
RCMP were called by airport security after the Polish immigrant, agitated after spending many hours lost in the airport customs area, tossed some airport computers.
Four RCMP officers responded to the call and within minutes of arriving, had jolted Dziekanski twice with a Taser. He died on the floor of the airport.