Tasered for Aggressiveness

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Aggressive actions led police to use Taser on man who died at Vancouver airport

Sun Oct 14, 5:22 PM

By Elianna Lev, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER - A man who acted erratically after arriving at Vancouver International Airport early Sunday died after police used a Taser on him.

Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre said the man was out of control, sweating profusely and yelling in what was believed to be an Eastern European language.

"He was pounding on the glass windows that was there, he actually grabbed a computer at one of the work desks and threw that to the ground," he said.

Airport security called the RCMP, who were one level above, to help contain the man.

When they arrived, officers tried to motion to the man, who didn't appear to speak English, to calm down and put his hands on a desk. Police said the man didn't respond to their requests and reached to throw something.

It was at that point an officer used a Taser on the 40-year-old twice in an attempt to immobilize him. However, Lemaitre said the man continued to be combative.

"(The Taser) didn't seem to have any kind of effect on him," he said.

Police held the man down in an attempt to subdue him, and he was handcuffed. The man, who was still flailing, then lapsed into unconsciousness.

He died shortly after paramedics arrived.

A coroner is investigating the incident and a toxicology report will be done to determine if there were drugs in the man's system.

"We don't know if it was intoxication," said Lemaitre. "It was certainly not normal behaviour. An autopsy from the coroner's office is going to be of great help to us to determine if it was alcohol or drugs or some other kind of medical condition."

He also said the incident was likely not related to terrorism.

Because the man died while at the hands of police, the Commission for Public Complaints were contacted to investigate the incident.

Investigators will determine where the man came from and what he may have been doing prior to the incident. Interpol will be contacted to verify the man's identity. He was travelling with identification.

Lemaitre said the man appeared to be alone and no one was waiting for him at the arrivals area.

International arrivals had been rerouted but there were no delays in flight schedules.

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Police identify man who died after Taser incident

Tue. October. 16 2007 2:04 PM ET

An autopsy is being conducted on a 40-year-old Polish man who was identified today as the man who died at Vancouver International Airport on Sunday after police used a stun gun to subdue him.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHT) identified the man as Robert Dziekanski.

An IHT release says Dziekanski arrived from Poland on Saturday afternoon and was planning to live with his family in B.C.

RCMP Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre says police were called by airport security when the man began throwing chairs, pounding glass walls and acting irrational, despite orders to calm down.

A witness who used her cellphone camera to film Dziekanski being subdued and Tasered described him as shaking, sweating and "shouting back" at police.

"What I saw was really horrible," Sima Ashrafinia told CTV News on Monday. "In front of my eyes, a human being lost his life."

The RCMP has said it does not believe the man's death was related to the Taser, and that the man was shocked twice.

But Ashrafinia alleges the Tasers were used more than twice.

"At one point, two officers - one here, one on his right, one on his left - they Tasered him both at the same time," she said. "That is what really disturbed me."

She said the man then bent over and collapsed. "I looked at the guy, he turned blue," she said.

The incident is being investigated by the RCMP's civilian oversight body.

With a report by CTV's Todd Battis in Vancouver