Wait. Police lawyers write up officers' notes for them?

From a partial transcript of Ontario Ombudsman and former Special Investigation Unit Director Andre Marin's interview on CBC yesterday regarding how systemic obstruction from the police will affect the Sammy Yatim investigation: 

"The director of the SIU has written 82 times to the Chief of Toronto Police, reporting issues of evidence tampering on the scene, failure to notify the SIU of an incident, one police lawyer representing multiple officers, police lawyers writing the notes for the officers - you know the police lawyer wasn't on scene."

Although Mr. Marin was talking about the Toronto Police, his remarks made me remember the Robert Dziekanski incident. 

The four RCMP officers in the 2007 police-slaying of Dziekanski are on trial for perjury because they all had nearly identical but absurdly inaccurate "notes", as Paul Pritchard's video eventually revealed. 
They all maintained that Dziekanski came at them screaming and brandishing a stapler, that they had to wrestle him to the ground, that to varying degrees they feared for their lives. 
At the Braidwood Inquiry, Justice Thomas Braidwood played Pritchard's video frame by frame as they read from their prepared notes to the accompaniment of muffled laughter from spectators in the courtroom.

So were those "notes" the RCMP's version of "one police lawyer representing multiple officers, police lawyers writing the notes for the officers" ?
Is that why they were so similar, so resolutely CYA, and yet so preposterously wrong?
I know the officers were specifically asked if they were "coached" for their testimony - a charge they have all denied -  but did anyone think to ask junior RCMP Constable Bill Bentley at his perjury trial last month if he had any input into the writing of his notes at all?
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Aug 3 Update - relates only to Ontario
Andre Marin : Police-Involved Deaths : The Need for Reform

"The SIU's practices around delayed officer interviews also served to undermine the regulatory requirement that witness officers be segregated to insulate their evidence from outside influence. Given that witness officers were usually permitted to leave an incident scene and that long periods went by before they were interviewed, the potential for conscious or unconscious tailoring of evidence was substantially increased. This risk was also compounded by the fact that many officers spoke with counsel before writing their notes and before speaking with the SIU, and quite often, the same counsel represented all officers involved in an incident, increasing the chance of contamination of their recollection of events, since lawyers are bound by the rules of professional conduct to share information among clients in a joint retainer situation."

Ontario Ombudsman 2012-2013 Annual Report 

In April 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal of an Ontario Court of Appeal case dealing with the issue of police association lawyers vetting officers’ notes before submitting them to SIU ... The Ontario court ruled in 2011 that officers cannot have a lawyer vet their notes. The Supreme Court’s decision is pending. ... 

Later on in the report he notes : 

" ... officers refuse to answer questions about whether they consulted with a lawyer before writing their notes"

In March 2013 at a speech at Carleton University, Andre Marin again called for legislation to bolster the SIU and "prohibit police lawyers representing multiple officers and interfering with notes."
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The Mounties always get their man ... off

Like the other three RCMP officers, Constable Bill Bentley stated Robert Dziekanski "grabbed a stapler and came at members screaming."

Paul Pritchard's video showed Dziekanski was backed up against a table with his hands up.

At his inquiry, Justice Braidwood called their nearly identical explanations "shameful", "patently unbelievable", and "deliberate misrepresentations of what happened for the purpose of justifying their actions".

Yesterday B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan found Bentley not guilty of perjury :

"It is quite possible that the Pritchard video did not capture the gestures several witnesses observed that would be consistent with Mr. Bentley's note that Mr. Dziekanski 'came at' the police because it was taken from behind Mr. Dziekanski."

Possibly this video from yesterday failed to capture a few gestures also.
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G20 - Police oversight

Oversight - noun
1) the action of overseeing something
2) an omission, the failure to do something

Dorian Barton was taking a picture of police horses in the park at the G20 summit in downtown Toronto last summer when he was suddenly knocked to ground from behind with a riot shield, beaten with a baton breaking his shoulder, and stomped in the face. He was then dragged off by his broken right arm and detained without medical treatment for the first five of a total of 30 hours in detention, after which he was charged with "obstructing a police officer". The Crown dropped the charges against him at the same time it dropped all the bullshit charges against everyone else.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, the civilian agency charged with investigating "police actions resulting in serious injury, sexual assault or death", is reopening for the third time an investigation into allegations the Toronto police officer pictured here was one of seven who took part in the vicious assault on Barton. The photographer who took this pic is willing to testify he saw the officer blindside Barton with his shield and strike him as he lay on the ground before other officers joined in. He has provided seven photos of the assault.

SIU dropped its two previous investigations into the case in January because eleven police witnesses, one of whom was the officer's G20 roommate and two of whom were his supervisors, declined to identify him. SIU director Ian Scott reopened it today after Toronto Police Chief Blair promised to provide the name of the employee who was able to identify the subject officer.

WTF?
I'm pretty sure if me and six of my friends were caught on film beating the crap out of you, the cops would not drop the case because my boss and my roommate declined to cough up my name to go along with my photo.

According to the Ontario Attorney General to whom the SIU reports, the SIU exonerates the officer in 97% of the cases it does pursue :

"The fact that the SIU overwhelmingly clears officers should be seen by the [public] as an endorsement of good policing."

However, in Oversight Unseen, a 2008 report on the SIU, Ontario Ombudsmen André Marin saw it differently :

"[T]he Ministry of the Attorney General has relied on the SIU to soothe police and community sensibilities and to ward off controversy. But in doing so, it has also overstepped the bounds of independent governance. The Director’s performance is subjectively evaluated and rewarded, compromising the SIU’s structural integrity and independence.

Its credibility as an independent investigative agency is further undermined by the predominant presence and continuing police links of former police officials within the SIU. It is so steeped in police culture that it has, at times, even tolerated the blatant display of police insignia and police affiliation."

[T]he SIU often ... adopts an impotent stance in the face of police challenge. Delays in police providing notice of incidents, in disclosing notes, and in submitting to interviews are endemic. Rather than vigorously inquiring into and documenting delays and other evidence of police resistance, the SIU deals with issues of police non-co-operation as isolated incidents.

Police interviews are rarely held within the regulatory time frames, and are all too often postponed – for weeks, sometimes even months. The SIU will not inconvenience officers or police forces by interviewing officers off duty. When it encounters overt resistance from police officials, the SIU pursues a low-key diplomatic approach that flies under the public radar. If disagreement cannot be resolved, the SIU more often than not simply accepts defeat."

"The SIU more often than not simply admits defeat." Good lord.

The current SIU director Ian Scott was appointed just before that report came out.
In February the Toronto Star ran a series based on 300 letters Scott sent to police forces over a 14-month period beginning in January 2009. They detail "his mounting frustration at not being able to hold officers accountable", including the burning of evidence before he got to see it, and being generally ignored by the Ontario police forces.
Presumably this is why he is giving interviews about this case to the press, despite the fact SIU Regulation 13 forbids it.

Rally in Toronto on Saturday for a public inquiry into G20 police riots

Meanwhile, out here in BC, the local media was pleased to bits last week to report that in response to Justice Braidwood  recommendations following from the police killing of Robert Dziekanski in 2007, we will be getting our own civilian police-oversight agency modelled on the SIU. And just like the SIU, the Independent Investigations Office will also report to BC's Attorney General, not the Ombudsman as Braidwood had wisely suggested.

Greg Klein at TheStraight :

[I]t was the AG’s Crown attorneys who exonerated the four Mounties involved in Dziekanski’s death. That was what led to Braidwood’s inquiry in the first place.

It gets worse. The government added that incidents or complaints involving IIO staff will be investigated by B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner. Almost all senior positions at the OPCC are staffed by former police officers.

An exception is police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe. But Lowe is a former Crown attorney and member of the criminal justice branch executive management that unanimously decided to exonerate the four RCMP officers involved in Robert Dziekanski’s Taser-related death. It was Lowe who made the infamous December 2008 announcement that the five Taser shocks inflicted on Dziekanski were “reasonable and necessary".

And so it goes ...
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Taser needs more "jump science"

A lawyer for Taser Int. told the Braidwood Inquiry today that medical testimony linking the death of Robert Dziekanski to his being tasered five times is "junk science". Or, as amusingly reported twice by the Winnipeg Sun in their version of the story : "jump science".

"... there was no evidence that "the Taser device caused or contributed to his death."
We say it is time this uninformed speculation about the role the Taser device may have had in this case be dispelled and the attack on Taser’s reputation ended."

Taser Int., who filed an application in B.C. Supreme Court in August to quash all 19 of Justice Braidwood's recommendations related to their product, prefers to lay the blame on "sudden death during restraint" due to "delirium".

You know, Taser, I think a simple test here would help clear up all this "uninformed speculation".

The problem is that we see people being tasered and then dropping dead - in that order. The RCMP has hundreds of recorded examples of drawing their TASER™ device and then not using it. If, as you contend, people die of delirium and restraint and not from being tasered, then all you have to do is produce the RCMP body of evidence that just as many delirious people drop dead before they are tasered as after.

Jump science. Hope this helps.

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Braidwood Inquiry resumes bickering

after being derailed just prior to final summation in June by the sudden appearance of an email written on Nov. 5, 2007 in which Chief Supt. Dick Bent alluded to the four officers' having a plan to TASER™ Robert Dziekanski prior to arriving on the scene, in direct contradiction to their sworn testimony that they did not have such a plan.

There's lots of media on this so I'm not going over all of it, but a couple of the more obvious Cover Your Ass points are being under-reported here.

Constables Bill Bentley, Kwesi Millington, Gerry Rundel and Cpl. Monty Robinson, who all gave startling similar but - according to the video we've seen -clearly wrong accounts of the events, were permitted to work together for several weeks after the incident.

The email from Chief Supt. Dent to Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre regarding his conversation with Supt. Wayne Rideout on the eve of the release of bystander Paul Pritchard's video, which showed Dziekanski being Tasered five times, being restrained and dying face down in handcuffs on the airport floor :

Media Strategy — Release of YVR video.
Al, spoke with Wayne Rideout today about our strategy for the release of the video. He had a couple of concerns. First, he didn't think we should be providing any explanation for what was transpiring but instead just say the Inquest will take evidence under oath etc. I went through the rationale and said we need to have an explanation otherwise our detractors will put their own spin.

...then a paragraph on who would be the best media point man to "do the narrative" in order that they not "lose the perception of independence", then :

Finally, spoke to Wayne and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW. He has asked investigators for a synopsis and should have it by noon tomorrow.

Dick

Rideout testified on Tuesday that Dent's interpretation of their conversation is "wrong" and his superior Dent, who is due to retire in two weeks, reluctantly admitted that might be possible.
Al Macintyre has said he never even received this email but as a week of his blackberried emails from Nov 1 to 8th has gone missing, this is impossible to verify.

The RCMP has belatedly released another 18,000 relevant documents since June but the inquiry is wrapping up with closing arguments scheduled to begin on Oct. 5 regardless.

Meanwhile, the break in proceedings caused by the sudden appearance of the not-terribly-explosive-after-all email gave the four RCMP officers time to file in Appeals Court seeking a "permanent injunction to prevent the commission from continuing any proceedings against them", while Taser Int is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to quash all 19 of Justice Braidwood's recommendations.

And suddenly, B.C.'s police chiefs and top RCMP officers, including Rideout who calls the current in house investigation system an "unwinnable image problem", are all over the media recommending a new independent office to investigate police, but most balk at the suggestion that such a body be comprised entirely of civilian investigators.

Too much CYA still going on here all round.

My confidence in the Braidwood Inquiry took a beating in June when Justice Braidwood held a presser in which he displayed a childlike thrill at learning all about tasers immediately followed by blaming the media for much of the public lack of trust in the RCMP.
We'll see.
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Braidwood Inquiry posts to date.
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Braidwood Inquiry : It ain't over yet

Justice Thomas Braidwood is "appalled", RCMP lawyer Helen Roberts is "tearful", and the Braidwood Inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death has been put on hold until September pending further investigation into an incriminating November 2007 email which was only turned over to the Braidwood Inquiry this week.

The email from Chief Supt. Dick Bent to RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al McIntyre :

"Finally spoke to Wayne [Supt. Wayne Rideout, head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team investigating Dziekanski's death] and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that he did not comply that they would go to CEW [conducted energy weapon]."

Rideout's lawyer read a statement from his client saying the email was "simply a misunderstanding" and that that "Rideout doesn't remember saying such a thing and Bent must have been mistaken".
A tearful Roberts stated the email "was simply overlooked" and that "Bent was mistaken in his e-mail and that the officers did not formulate a plan to use the Taser as soon as possible."

I would think 25 seconds is about as "as soon as possible" as is humanly possible, plan or no plan.
All four mounties testified under oath that they did not discuss anything amongst themselves prior to taking down Robert Dziekanski with five TASER™ shots.

When the Inquiry resumes September 22 , Rideout, Bent and McIntyre will likely be required to testify. Will Bent just say : Yeah, I was mistaken ?

Does this make you any happier about the sweeping new powers the Cons propose to give the RCMP to "collect information about Canadian Internet users without a warrant, and activate tracking devices in their cellphones and cars"?
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Sources : CBC, Natty Post, CP.
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Oh well then

Two experts on the TASER™ payroll testified at the Braidwood Inquiry that they don't believe that the five TASER™ jolts inflicted on Robert Dziekanski contributed to his death.

Dorin Panescu, an electrical engineer who received $92,896 from TASER™ last year for "consulting work " :

"With a high degree of scientific certitude, it is my opinion that Mr. Dziekanski's death was not caused by, and not contributed by, the use of a TASER X26."

Dr. Charles Swerdlow, a US cardiac electrophysiologist on Taser International's scientific medical advisory board :

"There is no medical, scientific evidence to support the conclusion that [conducted energy weapon] discharges contributed to Mr. Dziekanski's death. The circumstances of Mr. Dziekanski's death are typical of the poorly understood syndrome of sudden, in-custody death, often occurring after restraint."

That would be the "poorly understood syndrome of sudden in-custody death, often occurring after restraint" in conjunction with five applications of 50,000 volts.

The National Post, the Province and all the other cross-Canada CanWest papers helpfully ran this story under the headline : "'Experts' say Taser did not kill Dziekanski" or just "Taser did not kill Dziekanski".
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Update : Via Chunklets in comments : an item from CanWest's Suzanne Fornier, whose coverage has been excellent and who does not get to write her own headlines, although I have no quibble with this one : Alcohol allegation not backed up : doctor

"An eminent forensic pathologist told the Braidwood inquiry Wednesday that Robert Dziekanski's death -- after five Taser jolts and restraint by the RCMP -- was likely a "cardiac-related" death linked to the Tasering.

Dr. John Butt, who received the Order of Canada in 2000 for his work over almost four decades, disagreed with the report by pathologist Dr. Charles Lee that failed to mention use of the Taser but did conclude "chronic alcoholism" contributed to Dziekanski's death."

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Stonewall Wally begins his re-election campaign

CanWest today : RCMP officers may be charged in Dziekanski death

"The four RCMP officers who Tasered a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver International Airport may face charges in his death, B.C.’s Attorney General said Monday.
"Nothing is final . . . particularly where we’re getting more and more evidence elicited on a daily basis," Oppal told the CBC, referring to the inquiry evidence. “So it may well be, at the end of the day, the people in the criminal justice branch could re-examine this."

Really? Are you quite sure that's what he said?
Because what I'm remembering is that all three levels of Executive Management in the Criminal Justice Branch watched exactly the same video footage the rest of us did and compared it to Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson's statement in which he claimed 12 times that Dziekanski swung the stapler at them and had to be stunned twice before being wrestled to the ground.
Then they said the video supported the officers' accounts and mustered the gall to issue the following unanimous statement on December 12, 2008:

"There is a substantial body of independent evidence which supports that the Officers in question were lawfully engaged in their duties when they encountered Mr. Dziekanski, and the force they used to subdue and restrain him was reasonable and necessary in all the circumstances.

In light of this independent evidence, there is not a substantial likelihood of conviction in this case for any of the offences considered, in fact, the available evidence falls markedly short of this standard."

So what did Stonewall Wally Oppal actually say today?

CP (Italics mine) :

"RCMP officers who testified at the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport could still face charges after the inquiry but so far there is nothing to suggest that might happen, B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal said Monday.

"It's always the case in any determination where we decide that no charges were warranted that if there was new evidence and that new evidence was appreciably different then in those circumstances charges could be laid," Oppal told The Canadian Press. "But we're talking theory here."

"(The criminal justice branch) said at that time there would be no charges and all I said is that if new evidence emerges there's always a possibility to lay charges, but I didn't specifically say in this case it would happen," said Oppal.

Oppal said he's "not prepared to buy in" that there was a significant change in evidence and there were false statements made."

Care to revise your bullshit headline now, CanWest?
Everyone else ... as you were.
Electioneering for the May 12 BC Election apparently started in earnest today with Wally suddenly remembering this means his seat is up for grabs too.
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Yo! RCMP! Read the TASER™ manual!

On February 12, 2009, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott assured the public safety committee :

"The RCMP’s revised CEW policy restricts the use of CEWs and specifically warns of the hazards of multiple deployment or continuous cycling of the CEW."

On March 25, the CBC reported that instead Elliott had actually relaxed the 2005 restrictions on multiple zappings, removing the following rule from the RCMP operational manual on conducted energy weapons :

3. 1. 3. Multiple deployment or continuous cycling of the CEW may be hazardous to a subject. Unless situational factors dictate otherwise (see IM/IM), do not cycle the CEW repeatedly, nor more than 15-20 seconds at a time against a subject.

From the CBC yesterday : "Mounties shocked at least 16 suspects with a Taser five or more times", including one unarmed man zapped nine times and another - eight times.

May I politely suggest the RCMP read what TASER™ itself says about multiple zappings.

Taser International : Instructor and User Warnings, Risks via Stanford :

"When practicable, avoid prolonged or continuous exposure(s) to the TASER device electrical discharge. The stress and exertion of extensive repeated, prolonged, or continuous application(s) of the TASER device may contribute to cumulative exhaustion, stress, and associated medical risk(s). Severe exhaustion and/or over-exertion from physical struggle, drug intoxication, use of restraint devices, etc. may result in serious injury or death."

"Extensive repeated, prolonged, or continuous applications ... serious injury or death."

Guys just never want to read the manual first.

The Stanford report also notes that the dismissal of stun gun fatality suits in the US - much ballyhooed as victories by TASER™ Int. - are the direct result of the police officers involved not having sufficiently explicit guidelines to work from :

"Rather, in granting qualified immunity, the court simply held that the officers who fired the taser could not be held liable because the use of the taser did not violate clearly established law because there simply was no clearly established law regarding taser use at the time the officer fired one."

In other words - the same position we now find ourselves in here in Canada.
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Braidwood Inquiry : Blaming the victim

RCMP lawyers steered their defence straight into the toilet yesterday as they questioned a friend and neighbour of Robert Dziekanski in Poland via video link.

Stating their purpose was to "explain Dziekanski's behavior at the airport", lawyers for Constables Bill Bentley and Kwesi Millington began with questions about whether Dziekanski drank or had a history of violence but then went on to ask whether his relationship with his ex-girlfriend was toxic and hey, how about that time he was busted for theft as a juvenile?
Iwona Kosowska, Dziekanski's friend of 20 years, was having none of it :

"You guys made the mistake and now you want to turn everything around. For me, my friend just got killed in front of my eyes."

Millington's lawyer Ravi Hira persevered, muttering something about jail time, despite twice being over-ruled by Justice Braidwood to applause from the public gallery, until Kosowska had had enough :

"Can we stop this? You are trying to make a bad person out of him so you can kill a bad person, not a good person."

Well said, Ms Kosowska.
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RCMP : Getting away with murder

Exhibit A
In June 2008, in response to public outrage over Robert Dziekanski's death at YVR in 2007, the House of Commons public safety and national security committee threatened the RCMP with a complete ban on TASER™ use if "clear restrictions" were not put on officers discharging stun guns multiple times by December.
Eight months later, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott told the committee that the force had already introduced a revised Taser policy back in June 2008 to address that very concern : "We have taken steps to restrict its use."

At the time, many wondered why Elliott had waited a whole eight months to signal compliance with a policy already implemented.

Tonight CBC reports that instead, Elliott had actually relaxed the 2005 restrictions on multiple zappings, removing the following rule from the RCMP operational manual on conducted energy weapons :

3. 1. 3. Multiple deployment or continuous cycling of the CEW may be hazardous to a subject.
Unless situational factors dictate otherwise (see IM/IM), do not cycle the CEW repeatedly, nor more than 15-20 seconds at a time against a subject.

Cpl. Gregg Gillis, the RCMP's national use-of-force co-ordinator, cited two studies to explain the new position - one was funded by Taser Int., while the other did not address the effect of multiple TASER™ use on the heart at all.
Three of the officers involved in Dziekanski's death were trained by Gillis three months before but were unable to recall the policy. When questioned, Millington, who deployed the TASER™ on Dziekanski five times for a total of 31 seconds over one minute, said he would have to check the manual first to answer why there was a policy on multiple use.

Obviously if even their own manual does not prohibit it, individual RCMP officers cannot be held responsible - or charged or sued - for deaths by multiple TASER™.
Further, if another confused and frustrated immigrant walks through the Canadian Border Services Agency administered area of YVR tonight where the observation cameras apparently don't work and even when they do the tapes get erased, there is no reason to expect a different response and outcome than the one Dziekanski received.

In response to CBC's request for an interview, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott wrote: "Unfortunately I am not available to be interviewed."

Exhibit B
It is very unlikely that the Criminal Justice Branch of BC will change its decision to prosecute the RCMP officers who killed Robert Dziekanski - even following their appalling performance at the Braidwood Inquiry - because of the following criteria :
1) It must be determined that their prosecution would be in the public's interest
2) There must be a substantial likelihood of conviction

That the Crown had already seen Pritchard's video and apparently did not consider it to substantially contradicted the officers' statements tells us a good deal about their criteria.

Exhibit C

When the investigating officers from the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) interviewed the four officers about Dziekanski's death, they failed to warn them first of their rights under the Charter that anything they said could be held in evidence against them or that they had a right to have their lawyers present. Consequently all of that now utterly debunked original testimony - Dziekanski running at them screaming and brandishing a stapler and needing to be wrestled to the ground following multiple TASER™ use or the CBSA room being too crowded - is now considered contaminated for use in the courts.

And even if the IHIT team had warned the officers, what they say in testimony at a public inquiry cannot be used directly in evidence against them at any other proceeding. Plus the Braidwood Inquiry does not have any jurisdiction over the RCMP and cannot compel them to hold hearings or investigations.

The RCMP is a paramilitary organisation that from Elliott on down through the ranks ceased being accountable to the public quite some time ago. What can you do? Here's one facebook petition nearing 10,000 members.

Braidwood Inquiry resumes tomorrow; William Elliott is an ass

On the eve of the resumption of the Braidwood Inquiry into the homicide of Robert Dziekanski after a two week hiatus, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said he "would ask Canadians to reflect for a minute before they jump to conclusions".

A whole minute? What did Dziekanski get? 25 seconds, was it?

"Even in situations where people make mistakes or don't act appropriately, I think there is a requirement for a sober, sound examination of the facts and circumstances."

Yes. Watching Paul Pritchard's video, it's obvious that is precisely what was missing.

"I think the expression, 'Walk a mile in my shoes,' comes to mind.
I am optimistic that the inquiry will result in an assessment and recommendations that are based on that and not based on a knee-jerk reaction to what is heard, what is said or seen."

Right. So your advice is that we should just ignore what millions of us saw on the video and heard in the bullshit testimony given so far that bears no relation to it.

Tomorrow the lead officer, RCMP Cpl. Benjamin (Monty)"Hit him again! Hit him again!"Robinson, takes the stand.
Will he, like the three officers before him, also testify that Dziekanski was throwing things when they arrived, that he came at them screaming and brandishing a stapler, that he ignored their commands and had to be zapped twice before being "wrestled" to the ground, that none of the four have ever mentioned a single word to each other about what happened? Will he also have to be walked though the video frame by frame and have their official story debunked?

Cpl. Robinson will also presumably be asked why, as the lead officer, he did not monitor Dziekanski's condition after he started turning blue, why he did not attempt rescusitation, and why he initially refused to remove Dziekanski's handcuffs for the first responders.

On Oct 25, Cpl. Robinson again failed to provide aid for a victim when he fled the scene of an accident in which he hit a motorcyclist with his jeep. The motorcyclist died of his injuries.


In other RCMP/TASER™ news, the Sun reports that B.C. RCMP Sgt. Russell Hannibal, who was acquitted after zapping a man in handcuffs six times, "received a formal reprimand, not for deploying his Taser, but for using “vulgar, inflammatory” language during the arrest.
Hannibal’s commanding officer would have reviewed all the facts in the case before deciding against a formal hearing."

Yeah, don't mention the TASER™ - I did once but I think I got away with it.
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Monday Update : P.S.A. on that whole "whack a mole in my shoes" thing.
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Braidwood Inquiry - A third officer is forced to recant

Another very bad day for RCMP credibility as a third RCMP officer, the one who applied the TASER™ to Robert Dziekanski five times, is forced to reconcile Paul Pritchard's video with his own completely different version of events.

In his statement immediately after the incident and before seeing the video, Constable Kwesi Millington claimed that Dziekanski assumed a "combative stance" and came at the four RCMP officers in a "threatening manner" while "swinging the stapler wildly". Millington further testified that Dziekanski didn't go down even after three rounds of TASER™ and continued to fight even on the ground.

Justice Thomas Braidwood asked Millington how he could possibly insist the man was still standing after the first TASER™ "when he was on the ground howling with his legs in the air."

"I was wrong about that," says Millington.

So why did he hit him a second time? Because he was "resisting".

Video is shown of Robert Dziekanski spinning around in circles on the floor like a bug all by himself. Who exactly is he resisting?

"I was wrong about that", admitted Milligan again.
And the third time? Because he was still resisting.
And the fourth time? Seems he wasn't sure the TASER™ was working properly so he tried it in push-stun mode, applying it directly to Dziekanski for what he called "pain compliance".
He could not remember having done this a second time as the TASER™ record shows, for a total of five times over 30 seconds.

The stapler defence.
Millington : "I formed the impression he wanted to attack one of the officers or all of the officers."
Asked to demonstrate the stapler threat, Millington holds the open stapler close to his body just above waist height. Jeers break out in the gallery. The video shows Dziekanski surrounded by four officers backed up against the counter and making no movement towards them.

BC Local News :

"Asked what could have gone wrong if officers had waited another second or two, Millington maintained the stapler-wielding Dziekanski posed a threat.
"We feared for our safety and we felt he was going to escape."

Vancouver Sun :

"After Dziekanski was handcuffed behind his back, face-down, Millington said he recalled Const. Bentley pointing out "within a minute or two" that Dziekanski's "ears were starting to turn blue."
Millington agreed that he did not check Dziekanski's pulse or breathing, but thought that Cpl. Benjamin Robinson, might have done so, although he agreed with Vertlieb all officers wore gloves, making medical checks difficult.

Richmond Fire Capt. Kirby Graeme has testified that as the first paramedic on the scene, he was shocked to see Mounties "standing around" not monitoring Dziekanski, who was lying motionless and blue, "not in anything remotely resembling a recovery position."

Millington faces cross-examination and then we'll hear from the fourth and last RCMP officer, Corporal Benjamin Robinson.

Still no transcripts up at the Braidwood Inquiry website since Feb. 19.
RCMP Const. Bentley's lawyer has asked that official inquiry transcripts, video, audiotapes and exhibits at the inquiry not be released without a court order because they fear Poland may bring charges against the officers. Poland has denied they intend to do so.
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Braidwood Inquiry - Dziekanski may have shot staples
Braidwood Inquiry : First RCMP testimony today
Braidwood Inquiry : A second RCMP officer recants
Braidwood Inquiry : Dziekanski compliant after all
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Live coverage of the inquiry can be found at the CBC :
Mon to Fri from 10am to 11:50am and 2pm to 4:30pm
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Braidwood Inquiry : Dziekanski compliant after all

From the very beginning the RCMP justification for stunning Robert Dziekanski has been that he was "defiant" and "non-compliant".
Constable Gerry Rundel testified on Monday that Dziekanski turned away from the officers in a "to hell with you guys, I'm out of here," stance.
Const. Bill Bentley testified he feared for his safety after "Dziekanski disobeyed a police command, threw up his arms in the air and appeared to walk away from the officers, which he saw as an act of defiance."

Yesterday the lawyer for the Polish government blew that excuse away when he walked Bentley through five frames of Paul Prichard's video which clearly show that Dziekanski turned away from the RCMP officers towards a counter because he was directed to do so. In the video RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Robinson is plainly seen vigorously pointing towards the counter with his arm extended straight out in front of him and Dziekanski turns toward it as directed. At this point the four officers surround Dziekanski and RCMP Const. Kwesi Millington fired his TASER™ for the first time.

When the inquiry resumes on Monday, Const. Millington will face tough questioning as to why he then zapped Dziekanski for a further 20 to 25 seconds after he was already on the ground.
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Braidwood Inquiry : A second RCMP officer recants

RCMP Const. Bill Bentley in October 2007, prior to the public release of Paul Pritchard's video of Robert Dziekanski's death :

"Robert Dziekanski, 40, had grabbed a stapler 'and came at the police screaming' during the incident."

Const. Bill Bentley yesterday at the Braidwood Inquiry, after being walked through Paul Pritchard's video :

"If we didn’t have the video, would your evidence be today that Mr. Dziekanski grabbed the stapler and ran toward you screaming?” commission counsel Patrick McGowan asked.
“I don’t know,” Bentley replied, prompting derisive laughter from several people in the public gallery."

Now Bentley says : "Dziekanski "actually appeared calm and cooperative and wasn't doing anything as the officers approached."

That's quite the switch, Const. Bentley.

Vancouver Sun : "Lawyer David Butcher, representing Bentley, asked that official inquiry transcripts, video, audiotapes and exhibits at the inquiry should not be released without a court order. It is believed Poland is considering charges against the officers. The request will be ruled on later."

Transcript of RCMP testimony is still not up at the Braidwood Inquiry site yet but in the past it has usually lagged by several days.
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Braidwood Inquiry : First RCMP testimony today

Today the Braidwood Inquiry heard from the first of the four RCMP officers involved in the Vancouver airport death of Robert Dziekanski in 2007. The transcripts will not be available for a couple of days yet so here's what the media have reported. It is the first time the officers have spoken in public.

Constable Gerry Rundel, who was not carrying a TASER™ that night, testified that he feared "for my safety to a certain degree" although he was not clear why.

Dziekanski did not appear to shoot any staples at the officers, Rundel agreed.

Global :
"Rundel said he knew from the police radio that a fellow in the international arrivals area was "throwing objects" and breaking glass and was likely intoxicated.
(In fact, Dziekanski had thrown a small table but did not break glass or threaten other passengers. Toxicology reports after his death showed he had no drugs or alcohol in his system.)"

"Rundel said Const. Bentley first spoke in a "calm, friendly" manner to Dziekanski, but the incident escalated swiftly after that.
Dziekanski gestured toward his luggage but was told "No," by Const. Kwesi Millington.
Dziekanski complied with the request and moved away from his bags.
At that point Dziekanski threw up his hands and turned away from the officers in what Rundel interpreted as a "to hell with you guys, I'm out of here," stance.
"Within split seconds the Taser was deployed," said Rundel.

Pressed repeatedly by commission lawyer Patrick McGowan to say what specific command Dziekanski had disobeyed, Rundel became flustered but insisted that Dziekanski had moved away from his luggage, as he was commanded to do so by Cpl. Robinson, but then became "non-cooperative" or "non-compliant."
"Non-compliance" triggers the Taser deployment in the RCMP's training and use-of-force regulations, Rundel said."


The Star :
"He appeared to not be behaving like a normal person would behave," said Rundel. "It was all part of my observation formed by opinion."

"A criminal investigation conducted by the RCMP into its four members' conduct, which was given to crown counsel late last year, determined that the officers' actions were not criminal.

Dziekanski died Oct. 14, 2007 after getting hit five times with shots from the Taser gun. He fell screaming in anguish to the ground and the officers piled on top of him. Within seconds, he had stopped breathing.

The inquiry had heard earlier testimony from firefighters who later attended the scene that the RCMP officers appeared to do nothing to help the man."


In other news, RCMP in B.C. plan to buy 40 new Taser weapons. The force is budgeting $50,000 for the new model X26E Taser guns.
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Dziekanski may have shot staples

Staples?
That's your defence - staples?
That there was the possibility of staples?

You RCMP lawyers have fucking lost it.
Millions watched four RCMP zap Robert Dziekanski within seconds of meeting him, kneel on his upper body till he was dead, and then stand around making no attempt to revive him.
We heard the immediate RCMP spin in the aftermath that only three officers were there, that the room was crowded, that they tried to reason with him, that when we saw the whole tape we would understand.

We also understand you need to prove that the officers felt themselves to be in danger.
But having a former Vancouver airport security guard testify that Dziekannski "made an attempt to squeeze the staples out" of the desk stapler he was holding for "five to 10 seconds", scratch that you say, maybe only "one to four seconds" is not helping your case here.

What we need to hear from the RCMP brass after 11 TASER™ deaths, is that something has gone terribly wrong with the RCMP recruitment process but you will fix it, or something has gone terribly wrong with the officer training program but you will fix it or something has gone terribly wrong with instructions given to officers as to when to use the TASER™ but you will fix it.

That there was the possibility of staples isn't cutting it and you RCMP lawyers should be ashamed of yourselves for thus embarrassing all the decent hardworking RCMP officers who had to listen to that crap yesterday.
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Update : The Star : RCMP tightens rules on tasers
"Weapons potentially lethal, force says, and should be used only to protect officers, public"
... when "necessary" says RCMP Commissioner William Elliott

OK, but this isn't just about TASERs™, is it?
You keep spinning this as if it's all about the relative safety of teh TASER™.
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Dziekanski's death his own fault apparently

Robert Dziekanski's death was not only pretty much his own fault, but he probably would have dropped dead right there in the Vancouver airport even if the mounties and their TASERs™ had never shown up.

No really. It's all there in Stan Lowe's "Criminal Justice Branch Clear Statement" : the cause of death was

"a hysterical fear of flying, lack of sleep over a 30-hour period, and dehydration, which would have placed him at increased risk for Sudden Death Following Restraint."

What?
"Three forensic pathologists concluded that Dziekanski did not die as direct result of a cardiac arrest brought on by the electric shock from the stun guns," no, instead the pathologists concluded "Dziekanski likely died as a result of cardiac arrest linked to Sudden Death Following Restraint." Capitalized.

Tell me more about this new capitalized medical condition, Mr. Lowe of the criminal Justice Branch.

"Sudden Death Following Restraint usually involves individuals who are restrained after exhibiting combative and bizarre behavior. As a result, said the report, cases often involve law enforcement personnel."

Gosh that's kind of like that other now completely disgraced medical condition - excited delirium - isn't it? In what way are law enforcement personnel "involved"?

Well, after stun gunning Dziekanski five times, and handcuffing his hands behind his back as he lay on the floor, "The force included Corporal Robinson pushing his knee/shin down in the shoulder/neck area of Mr Dziekanski." At which point "Mr. Dziekanski appeared to go limp and become unconscious", in which state he remained, while no one attempted to resuscitate him for 11 minutes, until the paramedics showed up and couldn't find a pulse.

Stan Lowe at Friday night's press conference (because bad or improbable government news is always released on a Friday night) : None of the four RCMP officers involved will face criminal charges because :

"the available evidence falls remarkably short of that standard."

Remarkably. And their actions, according to another RCMP expert :

"represented a reasonable escalation and de-escalation of force"

One thing the "Clear Statement" is very very very clear about though : none of this can be blamed on the TASERs™, even if there have been subsequent reports of them discharging at 30 times the stated rate.
Fine, let's take TASERs™ out of the equation then - I don't give a shit about the TASERs™ - which only serve to operate as a smokescreen for everything else that's wrong here.
An RCMP officer kneeling on some handcuffed guy's neck/shoulder until he passes out, standing around while he dies, and then the justice system helping him get away with it - that's what's at fault.

Bonus bullshit : In addition to the three un-named pathologists, "Two medical experts in the area of Addiction Psychiatry and Alcohol Related Disease also reviewed the case."
And they came up with .. wait for it ... possible alcohol withdrawal as an explanation.
Poor guy can't catch a break with this inquiry - when the autopsy shows no alcohol in his blood, even that is used against him.

And although the apparently hysterically afraid-of-flying Dziekanski spent 20 hours on planes that day, a year later RCMP investigators were unable to come up with any report regarding his behavior on the flights.
They did however go all the way to Poland to dig up dirt on him :

"RCMP officers who went to Poland to talk to people close to Robert Dziekanski seemed focused on finding negative things about him, says one of those interviewed.
"What kind of person was he, was he a drinker, drug user? Was he aggressive?" she said through a translator. "Most questions were to expose him as not a nice human being -- not to find out what kind of person he really was."
Kosowska said she was left with a poor opinion of the RCMP after two officers questioned her for more than three hours. "I'm appalled by everything .
. . including the fact the policeman was not able to look me straight in the eye."

So you won't be surprised to hear that a good portion of Stan Lowe's 19 minute press conference and CBC's subsequently crappy TV coverage carried considerable conjecture as to whether Dziekanski was crazy or a drunk.

It is also noted in the statement that Mr. Dziekanski picked up a stapler in an "open hand" manner, causing the officers to hit him the first three times with a TASER™ within 25 seconds of entering the room. As someone wrote in the 665 comments under the CBC story : if a stapler is such a lethal weapon, maybe we should be arming the RCMP with them instead.

Yesterday's post : No charges for RCMP who killed Dziekanski

No charges for RCMP who killed Dziekanski

The Star : "The Mounties involved in Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski's death at Vancouver's airport last year will not face any criminal charges.
When RCMP responded to a disturbance call about Dziekanski, four officers confronted the unarmed Polish man and less than a minute into the encounter, a Taser gun was used, jolting Dziekanski, who fell screaming to the ground. Video, captured by a bystander, shows officers piling onto Dziekanski. He died within minutes."

Two to four TASER™ jolts less than 25 seconds after entering the room actually, and then they stood around for 11 minutes afterwards doing nothing to revive him while waiting for help.

Without Paul Pritchard's ugly and incriminating 10 minute video of the whole event and his threat of legal action against the RCMP to get it back from them, we wouldn't even know what happened because prior to its release the official RCMP story was that there were only two cops and perhaps Dziekanski was a "drug mule" or had "an underlying medical condition".
And then there were the internal documents between the Canadian Border Services Agency, the RCMP, and airport officials on their own security tapes of the incident : "The material has been cleansed too much," read one.

BC's Attorney General will be explaining this exciting new legal precedent at a press conference later today : If a gang of four thugs attacks someone without cause, drops them to the ground and leans on their neck and chest until they are dead - no worries.

As to CBC's recent report that "four out of 41 guns tested actually discharged more electrical current than Taser International says is possible."
Well good on ya for this, CBC, but this isn't exactly news, is it?
"In 2004 Robert Bagnell was killed almost instantly after being shocked by a Vancouver police Taser.
"Engineering firm Intertek tested the two weapons fired during the Bagnell incident. Their research found while one Taser performed within a normal electrical output, the other was 30 times higher.
Taser International, a U.S. stun gun manufacturer, later disputed Intertek's test results. Since then, the two Bagnell Tasers were sent to the Canadian Police Research Centre in Ottawa for further examination. That was two years ago.
Victoria Const. Mike Massine, considered one of Canada's foremost police experts on stun guns, says Tasers are not tested by police. "I'm assuming (Tasers) are tested at the factory," he said. "We don't have the mechanism to do that."

Dr. Dawg : WHITEWASH :
"It's time to disband this "horribly broken" outfit. And it's time to break up the cosy little cliques that have developed between police and Crown attorneys. Lives may well depend upon it.
Until this happens, no one is safe from the bully boys in red serge. No one. There are no checks and balances, there is no accountability. The RCMP is literally out of control. Its officers are, unlike the rest of us, above--or outside--the law."

Follow-up post : Dziekanski's death his own fault apparently!

Braidwood Inquiry to subpoena RCMP officers

After two delays in a year because the Crown can't decide whether or not to lay charges against any of the four RCMP officers involved in Robert Dziekanski's death at Vancouver Airport a whole freakin year ago, it would appear Thomas R. Braidwood, QC, has run out of patience :

Thomas R. Braidwood, QC, Commissions of Inquiry :

"The Braidwood Inquiry is looking for anyone who witnessed the events at Vancouver International Airport on October 14, 2007 concerning Mr. Robert Dziekanski death. Please view the Braidwood Inquiry's Call For Witnesses page if you would like to participate in the hearings as a witness.
Braidwood Commission of Inquiry will subpoena the RCMP officers involved in the incident if Crown counsel has still not made a decision on charges by the time the inquiry resumes on January 19, 2009. Read the full details on the Press Releases page."

G&M Nov 3 2007 :

"The RCMP paid a communications consultant almost $25,000 in taxpayers' money to help Giuliano Zaccardelli prepare for parliamentary hearings that ultimately led to the commissioner's resignation. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the Mounties hired Ottawa firm McLoughlin Media at a cost of more than $400 an hour in advance of Mr. Zaccardelli's ill-fated autumn testimony on the Arar inquiry report."

Dear RCMP : Suggest you use a different fluffer firm to prepare for this inquiry.