Four fit, young men equipped with ballistic vests and mace versus an out of shape, middle aged guy who's plainly stressed out. With those odds, it's fair to expect cops to be able to subdue the guy (if even that was truly necessary) without resort to deadly force.
The inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski has heard from the first of the four officers that he "was fearful" of the traveller when the cops descended on him at Vancouver airport. What made him so petrified of Dziekanski? Why the guy had the temerity to raise his hands, something that apparently struck fear into the heart of RCMP constable Gerry Rundel.
The witness went on to say that, "it's resistant behaviour where he directly disregarded a command," and he was trained that, when a individual becomes resistant, it's time to whip out the Taser.
RCMP spokesman, Sgt. Tim Shields offered this. "Of course this is a tragedy for everyone involved . Those officers will gladly do things differently if they could bring Mr. Dziekanski back." Guess what, Tim? That's not going to happen, they killed the man, he's not coming back.
Four of your guys, Tim, had to go for the Tasers to subdue a guy who hadn't even taken a swing at them.
Anyone who's watched the video knows these guys had no reason to Taser Dziekanski, not once and certainly not five times. At the end of the day I think it comes down to bad training, bad judgment and four gutless cops. Do we need mounties like this? Does the RCMP?
If these four gutless, stupid, sadistic RCMP employees get off without at least getting fired for killing Robert then their superiors should be charged with murder for training them to use a taser in such circumstances. The RCMP is a disgrace to Canada.
ReplyDeleteIn my own community there's been a discernable drop in respect for the RCMP among very middle-of-the road people. They've lost both respect and trust and it doesn't seem they're interested in doing a thing to get that back.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch of pussies. I used to have respect for the RCMP, but this just shows that they are gutless wimps.
ReplyDeleteTom Braidwood himself brought out the evidence that the RCMP policy for subjects who appear "distraught" is to go for the Taser. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteAnd, naturally, our police associations want all cops to carry Tasers and pretty much say it's none of our business to tell them what force to use and when.