Robert Dzienkanski

Dziekański was a construction worker in the process of immigrating from Pieszyce, Poland to live with his mother, Zofia Cisowski, in Kamloops, British Columbia. His flight was two hours late and arrived at about 4 p.m.[2] He did not clear customs for between eight and ten hours. His mother had told him to wait for her at the baggage claim area but it was a secured area where she was not allowed to enter. Airport staff told her Dziekański had left the airport and she left believing he had missed his flight.[3] Dziekański became visibly agitated. Bystanders and airport security guards were unable to communicate with him because he could only speak Polish and they did not use the airport's telephone translation service.[4] He used chairs to prop open the one-way doors between a customs clearing area and a public lounge and at one point threw a computer and a small table to the floor before the police arrived.[5]

Four RCMP officers arrived and entered the customs room where Dziekański was waiting. They apparently directed him to stand against a wall, to which Dziekański complied but apparently picked up a stapler while doing so.[6][5] Shortly thereafter, about 25 seconds after arriving at the scene, police tasered Dziekański, even though he had calmed down and was standing with his hands at his side. Dziekański began to convulse and was tasered a second time after falling to the ground, where the four officers pinned him down and handcuffed him. One eyewitness claimed Dziekański had been tasered as many as four times.[5] He writhed and screamed before he stopped moving. The RCMP then checked for a pulse, but his heart had stopped. Dziekański did not receive CPR until paramedics arrived on the scene approximately 15 minutes later. They were unable to revive him and pronounced him dead.[5]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Video
The entire event was recorded by Paul Pritchard, who handed his camera and the video to police. Police told Pritchard that they would return the video within 48 hours. Instead, they returned the camera with a new memory card and kept the original with the video, stating that they would not release it in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation. They claimed that witness statements would be tainted if they viewed the video before being interviewed by police.[7] Pritchard went to court to obtain the video, which he then released to the media on 14 November 2007.[8] After the video was made available, an RCMP spokesperson cautioned the public to reserve judgment against the police because the video represents "just one piece of evidence, one person's view."[5]

Before the video was released to the public, the RCMP repeatedly claimed that only three officers were at the scene. There were actually 4 officers who arrived at the scene.[5] The RCMP also said that they did not use pepper spray because of the risk it would have posed to bystanders. The video, however, shows that the incident occurred in a room that was separated from bystanders by a thick glass wall.[5] An RCMP spokesperson also stated that batons were not used because of how it would look to the public.[9]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJqdL40lvU

This hasn't been covered on any news that I've seen, sorry if it's been covered elsewhere. Haven't seen any thread on it.