Raphael Alexander: RCMP on Dziekanski -- 'We rarely have our facts straight early on'

May 7, 2009
Posted by National Post Editor
Full Comment, Raphael Alexander

Just when you think nothing more scandalous could be discovered at the Braidwood Inquiry overseeing the taser-related death of 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport on October 14, 2007, the former commanding officer in charge of investigating the death today defended the RCMP decision to maintain erroneous information publicly for 14 months. The preliminary reports of the death have been contradicted by actual testimony during the Braidwood Inquiry, leading many people to speculate there has been an attempted RCMP coverup. RCMP Superintendent Wayne Rideout explained that he did not correct falsified reports in the media because his “[...] belief at the time is we needed to protect the facts we were gathering”. He said that it was his decision not to release any further facts about the case, although they allowed the preliminary reports of Mr.Dziekanski being combative, resistant, and only fired upon with the taser twice to stand.

“We rarely have our facts straight early on,” he explained.

That’s interesting. If the police rarely have their facts straight early in a case, how is it also possible the RCMP immediately exonerated the officers involved, and decided they had acted “appropriately”? How is it that an email from RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass written on November 24, 2007, indicates he met with B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell at the airport, who expressed support for the actions of the officers and the continued use of Tasers?

The facts that have arisen from the Braidwood Inquiry has left a pall of doubt with the public, which seems to widely regard the case as an abuse of power by the police. The Taser, which we were told for over a year was only deployed twice, was in fact deployed five times for a total of 30 seconds of continual voltage. The victim was not at all “combative”, and did not have to be wrestled to the ground, as the video by Paul Pritchard shows quite clearly.

Mr. Rideout says he did not want to “correct” misinformation, nor release the Pritchard amateur video, believing it would “taint” the memories of the witnesses who were at the airport.

“What I was after was their true memory of the event,” Rideout told the inquiry. That comes as a little ridiculous, since the four RCMP police officers who had the best view of the entire proceeding, managed to have the worst memories of all, or so it would appear based upon their contradictory police report.

What seems to be the most consistent aspect of the RCMP, according to Mr. Rideout, is their contradictions between what they say to the public, and what has actually transpired. In an email at the time of the RCMP investigation, Mr.Rideout wrote: “We must continue to follow the evidence despite the fact [that] there will be public criticism and accusations the police were hiding things.” They knew the perception would be that they were obfuscating the truth, but they proceeded anyway.

RCMP Corporal Dale Carr testified that he sought out Mr. Rideout to correct the record publicly, but was told that “everything will be corrected eventually.” Despite denying that such a mentality is self-serving, the RCMP remained tight-lipped about the truth for 14 months, allowing the deceased’s mother to believe the initial false RCMP reports that maligned her son.

Mr.Rideout was also concerned about one other aspect of telling the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth:

“We would not want to be caught in a position where we’re defending or rationalizing any of [the officers] action,” he said.

Unfortunately the RCMP has done just that, expressly, and repeatedly, since the incident occurred. As the inquiry has already learned, a month after the death the RCMP released a report to the media that the officers on the scene had monitored Mr. Dziekanksi continuously before he died. That, too, was a falsification. Mr. Rideout testified about that mistake: “I did not foresee any of those issues would result in a criminal prosecution.”

Whatever happened to the old police adage: “Just the facts, please. Just the facts.”

Correcting details of Taser death would have hindered investigation, inquiry hears

May 6, 2009
CBC

A senior Mountie who oversaw the investigation into the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski chose not to correct misinformation given out to the public about the RCMP's use of a Taser against the Polish immigrant in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation, a public inquiry heard Wednesday.

Supt. Wayne Rideout testified that correcting the details police initially gave the media about the number of times RCMP officers stunned Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport and other circumstances surrounding the incident would have jeopardized any potential criminal investigation by opening up a public debate about what happened.

"We must continue to follow the evidence despite the fact [that] there will be public criticism and accusations the police were hiding things," Rideout wrote in an email at the time.

Rideout read from the email during his testimony Wednesday before the Braidwood inquiry, which is looking into Dziekanski 's death.

The inquiry heard last month that in the first two days after Dziekanski died on Oct. 14, 2007, the RCMP's public statements on the incident contained false information about how many officers were involved, how many times Dziekanski was stunned, whether there was video evidence of the confrontation and what state Dziekanski was in when approached by officers.

RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr testified last month he went to Rideout seeking to correct the record but was told to hold off because "everything will be corrected eventually."

Rideout ordered a blackout on giving the public any more facts about the incident following the initial media briefings, the court heard Wednesday.

Rideout admitted it might look bad and would come at a cost to the RCMP's public relations, but insisted that correcting the record would have put the RCMP in the position of entering into a public debate.

"I believe the potential criticism was if those four officers were ultimately charged and proceeded to trial, the criticism would or could have come from the Crown… or their defence," he said.

There was also another consideration, Rideout testified.

"We would not want to be caught in a position where we're defending or rationalizing any of their action," he said.

Rideout was referring to the four RCMP officers — Cpl. Monty Robinson, Const. Gerry Rundel, Const. Bill Bentley and Const. Kwesi Millington — who had been sent to the airport's international arrivals lounge in response to reports that Dziekanski was throwing furniture and causing a scene.

But a month after Dziekanski's death, Rideout authorized a news release in which the RCMP claimed the four Mounties had continuously monitored Dziekanski before he died, the inquiry heard.

Rideout broke his own blackout after learning that information from first responders was about to be made public suggesting the officers had been doing no such thing, the inquiry heard.

"The information about whether Mr. Dziekanski had a pulse or was monitored for any particular time [or] was in our possession.... I did not foresee any of those issues would result in a criminal prosecution," Rideout testified.

The provincial inquiry was called in the wake of Dziekanski's death and is being overseen by Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal justice. Braidwood will make recommendations to prevent similar incidents, and he could make findings of misconduct against the officers or anyone else involved.

Senior Mountie defends release of inaccurate information at Taser inquiry

May 6, 2009
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Mountie in charge of the unit that investigated Robert Dziekanski's death says he didn't correct wrong information released to the public because the inaccuracies weren't likely to impact potential witnesses.

Supt. Wayne Rideout, head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team at the time of Dziekanski's death, told an inquiry Wednesday that he was trying to protect the integrity of the case by cutting off the flow of information after the initial gaffes. "It is on a very rare occasion that we have a good handle on that information early on," Rideout said.

"It takes days, it takes weeks, to really accumulate and get an understanding of what has taken place. It is not good practice to be releasing specific pieces of information."

Dziekanski died on the Vancouver International Airport floor in October 2007 after he was stunned several times by an RCMP Taser.

Mounties were summoned to deal with Dziekanski after he started throwing furniture in the international arrivals area. He'd wandered around lost for hours in the passengers-only area before the confrontation with police, unable to find his mother.

The RCMP initially said the would-be Polish immigrant was stunned twice, but later revealed the Taser had been deployed five times.

Rideout said correcting the figure wasn't likely to impact witness accounts.

"The media release that there had been two rather than five (jolts) would not really contaminate that particular evidence," he said. "What I was looking for was what (witnesses) actually observed and saw in the most pristine form possible."

Rideout appeared to contradict himself several times.

He said witnesses' memories are most accurate soon after an event but then said such accounts can be inaccurate.

Rideout said the RCMP did not correct initial information released to the public to ensure the investigation's integrity, but later admitted the force issued a news release a month after Dziekanski died to provide more information about the incident.

The release said Dziekanski showed signs of life after being handcuffed and was closely monitored by officers.

Rideout said he had told RCMP media relations officers to stop commenting on the case but that investigators issued the release after being told of a freedom of information request received by the Richmond Fire Department.

The department's captain, Kirby Graeme, had told investigators that police were monitoring Dziekanski when he arrived at the airport.

"I (issued the release) for reasons that I think were there to relieve all parties of this belief that officers just stood there while Mr. Dziekanski passed away," Rideout said. "It was from a degree of compassion and a degree of understanding."

He said the move violated his department's policy of not commenting on investigations in their infancy but denied self-interest was involved.

"I do not believe that that release was self-serving to our interests," Rideout said when questioned by Don Rosenbloom, lawyer for the government of Poland.

Outside the inquiry, Rosenbloom said the RCMP informed the media when it was in its own interest to do so.

"When it wasn't in their interest, for example, correcting the untruths that were stated by RCMP media people in the early stages, they didn't," he said.

"I could not understand the rationale behind (Rideout's) evidence and I hope the (inquiry) commissioner feels the same way about it."

During his testimony, Rideout also defended the force's reluctance to release an amateur videotape shot of the incident to its owner, saying it too was likely to taint witness accounts.

That videotape was released only after the videographer, Paul Pritchard, took legal action.

Rosenbloom and Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, asked Rideout if leaving the inaccurate information in the public realm could have had a negative impact on the investigation and hindered potential witnesses.

Rideout said he did not think that was a factor.

Rosenbloom said after one witness came forward in the days following the incident to claim the Taser had been deployed at least four times, she was publicly rebuked by an RCMP media relations officer.

When asked if that was an intimidation factor by police, Rideout said, "I don't see it as intimidation at all."

RCMP 'rarely have facts straight early on,' Taser inquiry hears

May 6, 2009
By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — The former commanding officer in charge of investigating the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday defended the decision not to correct misinformation given to the media for 14 months.

"My belief at the time is we needed to protect the facts we were gathering," RCMP Supt. Wayne Rideout told the Braidwood inquiry, which is probing the Polish immigrant's death on Oct. 14, 2007, after he was Tasered five times.

Rideout said it was his decision not to release any further facts about the case, even though an RCMP media relations officer initially released inaccurate information about the fatal incident.

The inquiry heard earlier that Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, who was the senior media relations officer for the RCMP in 2007, initially told the media that Dziekanski was Tasered twice, was combative and had to be wrested to the ground at the airport.

Lemaitre later learned that the Taser was deployed five times, that four officers were involved in the incident and none of the Mounties had to wrestle Dziekanski to the ground because he fell after the first Taser shot.

Lemaitre testified that he got the information from Cpl. Dale Carr during a police briefing hours after Dziekanski died.

Lemaitre said he thought the misinformation would be corrected by Carr, who took over media relations for the incident on Oct. 31, 2007.

Carr was media relations officer for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which was investigating the sudden death.

Rideout said too much information was initially released about the incident.

"We rarely have our facts straight early on," he explained.

Rideout, then the team commander of the investigation, said he didn't want to correct the wrong information until all the facts were established and all witnesses had been interviewed.

He also recalled he didn't want a citizen's amateur video of the incident, which was seized by police, released because he thought it would taint the memories of witnesses who were at the airport that night.

"What I was after was their true memory of the event," Rideout told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired judge.

But under cross-examination, lawyer Walter Kosteckyj, representing Dziekanski's mother, suggested Rideout was in a conflict of interest when he approved a further media release of facts in November 2007 to let the public know Dziekanski still had a pulse and was breathing after he was Tasered and handcuffed.

"The decision with respect to that release was mine," Rideout recalled.

Kosteckyj questioned why the commander chose to release more facts but not correct previous misinformation.

Rideout said all the facts had been gathered regarding the monitoring of Dziekanski's vital signs but not whether the Taser was a factor in the in-custody fatality.

"One was stable information in our investigation and the other was still fluid," he added.

Lawyer Don Rosenbloom suggested Rideout chose to violate his "cease order" not to release any more information about the incident "when it was self-serving to your interests."

The Mountie disagreed. "I do not believe the release was self-serving to our interests."

Rosenbloom also pointed out the RCMP media release did not mention there was contradictory evidence from a Richmond fire department captain, who told police that when firefighters arrived on the scene, no one was monitoring Dziekanski.

Rideout said the contradictory witness statement did not belong in the news release.

"Isn't the truth less prejudicial than to leave untruths out in the public?" the lawyer asked.

"The truth is the goal," Rideout replied.

In hindsight, he added, police should have told the media that errors of fact had been released but police could not discuss at that time what the errors were.

The inquiry has heard that Dziekanski, 40, had left his home in Poland more than 24 hours earlier and had come to Canada to live with his mother, Zofia Cisowski. But they never connected at the airport. Dziekanski stayed in a secure area of the airport, not accessible to the public, for about nine hours. He eventually became agitated and began throwing furniture around, prompting a 911 call. Four RCMP officers arrived and began trying to communicate with Dziekanski, who spoke no English. When police gave him conflicting commands, Dziekanski grabbed a stapler from a counter, causing an officer to deploy the Taser.

Dziekanski died at the scene.

Braidwood Inquiry

Scheduled Witnesses (Subject To Change)

Monday, May 4, 2009

Dr. S. Lu (Psychiatrist)

From Mother Jones - Taser's Delirium Defence, March/April 2009:

Shao-Hua Lu, a psychiatrist who treats addicts at Vancouver General Hospital, hadn't heard of ED before 2007, when he began working on a Canadian government probe of Taser safety. "No [practicing] medical doctor would write down 'delirium' on a death certificate as a cause of death," says Lu, who trains Canadian Mounties to identify mental health problems, including various forms of delirium, in their subjects. "I don't understand why MEs would write that."

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Brian Hilton (CBSA)

Binder Kooner (CBSA)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Supt. W. Rideout (RCMP)

Inspector T. Lightfoot (RCMP)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Don Ehrenholz (YVR Operations)

Dr. C. Kerr (Cardiologist)

See Tasers can cause death, inquiry told - CBC, May 20, 2008

Friday, May 8, 2009

Dr. Z. Tseng (Cardiac Electrophysiologist)

From the May 9, 2008 edition of the Toronto Star (reporting on Dr. Tseng's earlier appearance at the Braidwood Inquiry):

A heart-rhythm expert also told the inquiry there are real risks to Taser use, despite the company's safety claims.

"Just because somebody collapses of sudden death minutes later after a Taser application doesn't mean that the two are not connected," said Dr. Zian Tseng, a San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist.

Tseng said any normal, healthy person could die from a jolt of the conducted energy weapon if the shock was given in the right area of the chest and during the vulnerable point in the beating of the heart.

He stressed the risk of death is far greater if there is adrenaline or illicit drugs coursing through the body or if the person has a history of heart or other medical issues.

Tseng fell into studying conducted energy weapons about three years ago when he created a media storm by telling a San Francisco newspaper the device could induce cardiac arrhythmia.

"Shortly thereafter I was contacted by Taser directly to reconsider my statements to the media. They even offered to support (my) research, to give me grant funding," Tseng said, adding he declined the offer in order to remain independent.

Tseng said there needs to be much more real-world studies on the use of the weapon, instead of using police officers – often large, healthy males – to test the device.

He also said medical examiners should be given more freedom to investigate such deaths, even seizing the weapon for investigation if necessary.

"If there's a person that dropped dead suddenly after Taser application and you can find nothing else on the autopsy, I would venture to say that's due to arrhythmic death."

The risk to suspects being shocked could almost be zero to the heart if police avoided using the weapon in the chest area, and Tsang suggested that be one of Braidwood's recommendations.

Tsang also said police should avoid repeated shocks to lessen the chance they'll set the heart into an abnormal rhythm.

He said the risks are very low of a person dying while being arrested by police.

"What we don't know is has the Taser increased that risk from that very low rate to a slightly higher rate."

Top-level Mountie decided not to correct Dziekanski facts, inquiry told

April 22, 2009
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A senior Mountie handling the RCMP's public response to Robert Dziekanski's death at Vancouver airport says he watched a witness video of Dziekanski's death twice and didn't want to see it again.

Cpl. Dale Carr told a public inquiry into the death that he saw the video of the last moments of Dziekanski's life at a homicide briefing the morning he died.

"I didn't have a desire to rewatch it," Carr said Wednesday during his appearance at the inquiry. "I just found it upsetting and didn't really want to see it again."

The RCMP spokesman said it was clear within two days of Dziekanski's Oct. 14, 2007, death that some of the information being provided to the public was wrong.

But Carr, media relations officer for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said he decided not to correct the misleading information.

Carr said the homicide unit's boss, Supt. Wayne Rideout, decided two days after the incident that public statements should focus on the investigation process, not on potential evidence.

"It was decided that we weren't going to attempt to try and correct any of that information until we had all of the facts and all of the evidence before us," Carr said. "I knew that eventually this would all come out at the proverbial end of the day."

Dziekanski died after being stunned several times with a Taser in a confrontation with RCMP officers at the international arrivals area of the airport. Police were summoned after Dziekanski began throwing furniture.

In the hours after his death, RCMP made several crucial mistakes in describing what happened.

Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, the spokesman for the force in the case, told reporters Dziekanski had been stunned twice when, in fact, the Taser had been deployed five times.

He said Dziekanski had been struggling with officers and swinging an object at them, although the bystander's video shows otherwise and that three, not four, Mounties faced off against the agitated man, who spoke no English.

When the witness video, shot by Paul Pritchard of Victoria, was broadcast after the Mounties returned it to him, the discrepancies sparked an international furor that, in part, led to the inquiry currently underway.

Lemaitre, senior RCMP spokesman at the time, earlier told the inquiry that Carr was his sole source of information about the incident.

Carr said Wednesday that he quickly realized an in-custody death - especially involving a Taser and at the airport - would excite a lot of media attention, including outside Canada.

He and Lemaitre attended a homicide unit briefing and viewed the video before heading to the airport to talk to reporters, Carr told the inquiry.

He said he took notes during the briefing but admitted they don't show precisely where some of the erroneous information came from. No one who spoke is identified in the notes and Carr said he can't recall the names 18 months later.

Carr was at Lemaitre's side for media scrums at the airport but testified he paid little attention to what the senior spokesman was saying.

He suggested Lemaitre may have embellished some of facts, including the number of times Dziekanski was stunned.

"I gave Sgt. Lemaitre the information that's here in my notebook," Carr said. "Additional information, additional editorial comments that Sgt. Lemaitre made, I can't be confident that I gave him that information."

Lemaitre was taken off the case after 48 hours, mainly for logistical reasons, Carr said.

The two had agreed at the outset the best strategy was to get timely and accurate information out to the media without compromising the investigation.

Carr said he became aware there were mistakes in the public statements that releasing the video could have cleared up.

But investigators considered the recording as evidence, he said, and did not want to release it and risk tainting the independent recollections of witnesses.

Carr said the case was evolving from an in-custody death to a criminal probe, where discussing the evidence could derail a future court case.

"I was prepared to say that we're not going to talk about the video, we're not going to talk about evidence until the entire investigation is complete," he said.