Special prosecutor named as inquiry blasts 'shameful' Dziekanski Tasering

VANCOUVER — Within hours of the release of a report damning the Tasering of a Polish immigrant by RCMP officers in 2007 as “shameful” and unjustified, the B.C. government announced Friday the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the circumstances of Robert Dziekanski’s death — opening up the prospect of criminal charges against the officers involved.

B.C. Attorney-Solicitor General Michael de Jong made the announcement Friday following the release of the final report by the Braidwood Inquiry, which reviewed the October 2007 Tasering and death of Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport.

In 2008, B.C.’s criminal justice branch announced that it would not approve any charges in relation to Dziekanski’s death because there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction.

However on Friday, following the release of the Braidwood report, de Jong said that “the circumstances here not just warrant, but require, a fresh look and a reconsideration of the decision made some time ago.”

Top Vancouver criminal lawyer Richard Peck has been brought in by the province to review a decision to not charge the four Mounties involved in Dziekanski’s death.

Peck has also been asked to examine the officers’ “statements to investigators and their testimony at the Braidwood Inquiry with a view to determining whether their conduct was at any time contrary to any provisions of the Criminal Code or applicable provincial legislation,” said a statement Friday from the criminal justice branch.

If he deems charges are warranted, he will prosecute the case.

Most recently, Peck was brought in by the Ontario government to review the charges against former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant in connection to the death of a bicycle courier in downtown Toronto last August.

“That prosecutor will assess if there are any additional evidence or grounds . . . upon which to reconsider the earlier decision around criminal prosecution,” de Jong told reporters.

“The special prosecutor will have a wide-ranging authority under the provisions of the Criminal Code to make recommendations in this case.”

Commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired appeal court judge, bluntly condemned the “shameful conduct” of the four RCMP officers who, responding to a report of a violent drunk at the Vancouver International Airport in October 2007, repeatedly shocked Dziekanski with a Taser as he writhed in pain.

Braidwood quoted Dziekanski’s final words before his death, spoken in Polish: “Leave me alone. Did you become stupid? Have you gone insane? Why?”

“In my view, Const. (Kwesi) Millington was not justified in deploying the weapon against Mr. Dziekanski, given the totality of the circumstances he was facing at the time,” Braidwood said.

“Similarly, Cpl. (Benjamin) Robinson was not justified in instructing him to deploy the weapon.”

Braidwood dismissed as false the RCMP officers’ claims that they were forced to fight with Dziekanski.

“In my view they were deliberate misrepresentations, made for the purpose of justifying their actions.”

Dziekanski, who spoke no English and had never been on a plane before, was unable to find his mother upon arriving at the airport. He remained in a secure customs area for nearly 11 hours and then, appearing dazed and delirious, began throwing around furniture, prompting the 911 call.

Moments after four RCMP officers — Millington, Robinson, Const. Bill Bentley and Const. Gerry Rundel — arrived on the scene, Dziekanski was jolted five times with a Taser.

He died minutes after he was restrained and handcuffed face-down on the airport floor.

The incident, captured on amateur video, resulted in an international public outcry.

Braidwood said the video — shot by Paul Pritchard — was “absolutely invaluable” throughout the inquiry.

“Nobody can cross-examine that tape or deny its contents,” Braidwood said. “We certainly wouldn’t have the evidence that we have now in order to arrive at the truth.”

The officers testified at the inquiry that they believed Dziekanski intended to attack.

But Braidwood condemned their testimony, saying, “I do not believe that either of these officers honestly perceived that Mr. Dziekanski was intending to attack them or the other officers.

“They approached the incident as though responding to a barroom brawl and failed to shift gears when they realized that they were dealing with an obviously distraught traveller,” he wrote in the report. “Neither officer carried out an appropriate reassessment of risk immediately before deployment of the weapon.”

Braidwood found Dziekanski was compliant with police commands and did not brandish a weapon, despite grabbing a stapler.

“Mr. Dziekanski did not bring this on himself,” Braidwood said.

“We will never know, with absolute certainty, what caused Mr. Dziekanski’s death,” Braidwood wrote in the report, adding that the testimony from 14 medical experts allowed him to “reach conclusions about the most likely cause of death.”

He noted that the accumulated stress and agitation during Dziekanski’s trip to Canada could have triggered an accelerated heart rate and a rise in blood pressure, leading to cardiac arrest. This state “was significantly exacerbated by Mr. Dziekanski’s interaction with the RCMP officers,” and “is the most likely cause of his death,” Braidwood said.

While Braidwood said that the officers should have tried to calm down the situation without resorting to violence, he stopped short of saying the RCMP officers’ actions amounted to misconduct.

“I think I was blunt enough, full enough, and hopefully accurate enough that those reading it can draw their own conclusions,” he told reporters.

“This tragic case is, at its heart, the story of shameful conduct of a few officers. It ought not to reflect unfairly on the many thousands of RCMP and other police officers who have, through years of public service, protected our communities and earned a well-deserved reputation in doing so.”

On Friday, Dziekanski’s mother said she was pleased with the attorney general’s announcement.

“I’m happy inside,” a visibly relieved and more relaxed Cisowski told reporters after the announcement. “My future will be much clearer. . . . I’m just so excited.”

De Jong thanked and praised Zofia during his news conference.

“You are a brave lady and I think British Columbians and Canadians have seen this first hand. I thank you,” he said.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, reacting to the Braidwood report Friday, acknowledged that the force’s handling of the incident “failed at many levels” and the officers involved acted inappropriately and were too quick to use the weapon.

“We agree that events that took place . . . should have unfolded differently,” Elliott said. “It is clear that our policies and training at the time were deficient.

“We acknowledge that the actions of our members who dealt with Mr. Dziekanski also fell short, including the fact that our officers didn’t take enough time to try to de-escalate the situation and did not provide an appropriate level of care to Mr. Dziekanski.”

But Elliott would not immediately say if the officers would face any further discipline, such as suspension or dismissal.

The four officers are still Mounties, although none of the four work at the RCMP’s Vancouver airport sub-detachment anymore. Three have been reassigned to indoor duty, and one — Robinson — has been suspended with pay for an unrelated incident stemming from a fatal crash in October 2008.

Braidwood also levelled harsh criticisms against the RCMP media relations officers responding to the case.

“It is not in dispute that some of the RCMP’s public disclosures about the Dziekanski incident, during the early stages of the criminal investigation, were factually inaccurate,” he wrote.

“When the RCMP became aware of these inaccuracies, the officer in charge of (the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) decided not to correct them.”

Braidwood said there is an inherent “conflict of interest” when the RCMP investigates a Mountie-related death.

To that end, De Jong said Friday that, within the next year, the B.C. government will create a new civilian-led unit to investigate all independent municipal police- and RCMP-related deaths and serious incidents across B.C.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement that the federal government “will take the time necessary to carefully review” Braidwood’s report before commenting further.

The Braidwood Inquiry’s first report, released last July, examined the use of Tasers — known as conducted-energy weapons — by police, sheriffs and corrections staff in British Columbia.

During the inquiry, a number of medical experts expressed concerns about the risks associated with Taser use, while police officers testified the use of the devices saves lives.

Since Dziekanski’s death, the RCMP have made a number of changes to Taser policies, including restricting the weapon’s use to incidents threatening officer or public safety, annual recertification for trained users and enhanced reporting on all use-of-force incidents by RCMP officers.

Elliott on Friday also reissued an “unconditional” apology to Dziekanski’s mother, initially given by RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass in April.

“I would like to express once again our sincere condolences to Mrs. Cisowski on the death of her son, Robert, and to apologize unconditionally for the role the RCMP — including individual members of the RCMP — played in his tragic death,” said Elliott.

Along with the April apology, Cisowski was also given an undisclosed financial settlement from the RCMP.

For her part, Cisowski dropped a lawsuit for damages against the RCMP, the four officers involved, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Vancouver Airport Authority.

Canwest News Service