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Video Of Taser Used On Immigrant Raises Questions In Canada

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By ROB GILLIES, The Associated Press

Published: November 16, 2007

TORONTO - Video released by Canadian authorities of the last moments of a Polish immigrant's life shows police using a Taser stun gun on him after confronting him at the Vancouver airport.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, of Pieszyce, Poland, arrived at the airport 10 hours earlier on Oct. 14 - his first airplane flight, to begin a new life with his mother in western Canada.

Dziekanski, who did not speak English, began acting erratically after not seeing his mother in the baggage area, a secure area she could not enter.

She had told him to wait for her there, and he did, for hours. When she could not find anyone to help her get back to the secure area, and he did not appear, she thought he had missed his flight and she left the airport.

A coroner's inquest has been called, and police have launched their own investigation and begun reviewing the use of Tasers.
Piotr Ogrodzinski, Poland's ambassador to Canada, said Thursday that Canada's ambassador to Poland will meet with Polish officials Monday.

"It requires answers immediately," Ogrodzinski said. "The video creates a strong impression that the police officers' reaction was not suitable to the circumstances."

Ogrodzinski said Dziekanski appeared helpless and made no move that would indicate he was trying to hit anybody.

"It is really shocking. It's so sad," Ogrodzinski said.

Police Cpl. Dale Carr said the video, which was widely broadcast Thursday on Canadian television, is just one small piece of evidence and investigators are not making the case on that alone.

"There are a number of other witnesses that have an account, and we are interested in getting to the bottom of it," Carr said. "We want people to make judgment on the totality of all of the evidence, and that will be shared at the inquest."

Walter Kosteckyj, a lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, said he hopes the video holds the police accountable for their actions.

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