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Vol. 73/No. 28      July 27, 2009

 
New evidence surfaces
in killing by Canadian cops
 
BY NED DMYTRYSHYN
AND STEVE PENNER  
VANCOUVER, British Columbia—New evidence pointing to a cover-up in the cop killing of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport forced Judge Thomas Braidwood June 19 to postpone the conclusion of the inquiry into his death until the fall. The inquiry will resume September 22.

It’s likely that four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, who confronted Dziekanski and shocked him with a Taser five times on Oct. 14, 2007, will be recalled to answer an RCMP supervisor’s e-mail contradicting their testimony at the inquiry. The e-mail, released just as the Braidwood inquiry was about to conclude, showed that the four cops had planned to Taser Dziekanski before they arrived at the airport.

The cops testified at the inquiry that they had no discussion about Tasering Dziekanski before confronting him at the airport. Their testimony contradicted eyewitness Paul Pritchard, who reported overhearing cops say, “Can I or should I Taser him?” before they even got to Dziekanski.

Pritchard’s video of the cops killing Dziekanski, which police initially seized and tried to suppress, showed that Dziekanski was shot several times by 50,000-volt Tasers, and then jumped on by three RCMP officers. It shows that the cops held him face down with their knees on his chest and neck until he stopped breathing, and that contrary to the cops’ testimony, he did nothing to threaten the police before they attacked him.

The e-mail sent by RCMP chief superintendent Dick Bent to Assistant Commissioner Al McIntyre outlines the RCMP’s plan for damage control to counter Pritchard’s video.

In a recent ruling, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge June 15 upheld the right of the Dziekanski inquiry to find misconduct on part of the “federal officers.” Lawyers for the cops are appealing this decision.

Should Judge Braidwood find misconduct on the part of the four cops for “excessive use of force” it would put further pressure on the British Columbia provincial government to reverse its previous decision not to prosecute the cops for killing Dziekanski, despite the growing public outcry.

Protests against his killing were organized in several cities across Canada at the time, including a demonstration of more than 1,000 in Vancouver.
 
 
Related articles:
High court may rule on Troy Davis appeal in fall
Charges dropped against 4 more in ’71 cop killing  
 
 
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