RCMP Taser Death

[canadam]

The use of a taser has resulted in another death in the hands of the RCMP. This is a pretty significant event in Canadian news right now, as the RCMP have found themselves in hot water too many times recently.

This is just one of hundreds of articles related to this incident. What makes the case quite interesting is that an eyewitness video recorded the entire encounter, which the RCMP had originally confiscated, and now has been released after some legal pressure.

CBC.CA - Canada's News, Money, Sports, Health, Technology & Science, Consumer Life, Arts, and Kids Information Source probably the most information relating to the story. Read some of the articles, or read them all, but make judgements and comments As with any news story, anywhere you go you'll find differing accounts of the situation. For example, some Polish speaking people claim he called for the police, others claim he denied help from anyone. The sound is quite muffled.

Man dies after Taser shock by police at Vancouver airport

Tasering Video (understand that at the end of this video the man is dead, if this doesn't sit well with you, do NOT watch the video!): http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/bc/ondem...TASERVIDEO.wmv

[55mr2]

So because they couldn't find 1 person in the whole airport that speaks Polish (or any other Slavic language) this guy is dead. So sad, so sad...

Given that he was at YVR, I would guess if he spoke an Asian language, he'd have been safe.

Regardless of language, 4 armed, body armoured RCMP vs 1 poor confused traveller should never have resulted in anything more than some bumps and bruises and maybe apologies all around.

So sad...

[Mister2.2]

I saw this. Guy was acting irate, can't speak english. Very worked up, obviously frustrated.
Security made the mistake of approaching him in a threatening manner. First they all stood there starring at him, then all approached at the same time, side strafed around him and then zapped him.

And apparently they knew how to use a stun gun but had no idea how to perform CPR since they just sat there and watched him die.

[TheAmazingDave]

I don't agree with what happened, but the guy was obvioulsy freaking out on drugs. Living in California, you can spot that **** a mile away. You can hear all the witnesses telling the police that he just started wiggin out. And his actions during the film, to me anyways, look more like the actions of a hardcore tweaker than a confused and aggravated tourist. As a result, he went in to cardiac arrest with the taser. I'm guessing he croaked because his heart was already racing from the trip he was on, and the added excitement was too much work.

Horrifying, regardless.

[canadam]

Originally Posted by 86mister2

I don't agree with what happened, but the guy was obvioulsy freaking out on drugs. ... I'm guessing he croaked because his heart was already racing from the trip he was on, and the added excitement was too much work.

Horrifying, regardless.

Is it really that obvious? The man is reported to be a diabetic. Stuck 9 hours in Customs with noone that understands you and no food could be a recipe for disaster for a diabetic. One symptom of insulin shock can be eratic and violent behaviour, typical to what one believes is a drunk person. Really though, how thourough is our airport security if 9 hours after arriving in Vancouver and following a flight from Germany the guy is still tweaking on drugs and/or has taken some recently. There's absolutely no indication thus far that this man had anything to do with any kind of drug... beyond insulin, maybe.

The phenomenon of "croaking" after being tased has been referred to as "excited delerium." Do I agree this man needed to be subdued? Yes. Do I agree that non-lethal means should be used to do this? Yep. Are tasers non-lethal means? Not all the time apparently.

[TheAmazingDave]

Duly noted on the drug point. And I do not agree with the use of electricity for restraint/punishment/detterent/etc. for the record.

But dude was flipping out. If he's a hardcore diabetic, shouldn't he have his insulin with him? If you have a serious health condition and are travelling internationally, wouldn't you plan ahead and make sure you have enough medication with you? I know insulin has to be kept cold, but you can easily store it in a cooler.

Regardless, tasering someone is a chicken **** move when there's 4+ cops trying to take down a man armed with an LCD monitor, no doubt.

[TheAmazingDave]

And yes, that's exactly how I've seen some tweakers react when they're flipping out on too much meth.

[canadam]

Originally Posted by 86mister2

If you have a serious health condition and are travelling internationally, wouldn't you plan ahead and make sure you have enough medication with you?

Sure, but I think an unforseen 9 hours in customs is sort of an unforseen circumstance.

[TheAmazingDave]

Very true. I can't speak for everyone, but that's the kind of stuff I think of when I "plan ahead".

[55mr2]

Originally Posted by canadam

Sure, but I think an unforseen 9 hours in customs is sort of an unforseen circumstance.

Whether it was the 9 hours in customs, no medication, or just being generally pissed off, ending up dead is not an acceptable outcome by any means.

It always seems that we are quick to blame the victim for somehow bringing this on to himself. So he raised a laptop at them, probably telling them in Polish to back off. He doesn't know what the hell is going on and now 4 cops are approaching him.

What is almost as disturbing is that I haven`t seen anyone from the RCMP offer some form of apology to the mother. They screwed up. End of Story.
Own up to it, figure out where they went wrong, change some procedures, dicipline someone if necessary, but don`t start by trying to pretend it was somehow justified.

I respect the job the RCMP do, they have some real crap to put up with and I would certainly not want to be in their shoes. But something went south and they need to address it.

[TheAmazingDave]

You want to know what went wrong? Someone over the past few years developed the taser then deemed it safe for regular law enforcement use.

If that didn't happen, he would have gotten a face full of pepper spray/mace instead.

I would much rather be sprayed with a harsh irritant than be electrocuted.

Originally Posted by 55mr2

It always seems that we are quick to blame the victim for somehow bringing this on to himself. So he raised a laptop at them, probably telling them in Polish to back off.

Did the cops make him do that? Did a little birdie tell him to? Nope. He didn't bring his meds and he wigged out. Did he start the incident? Absolutely. Is it his fault he got tasered? Absolutely not.

[TomsMR2]

most people dont die from being tazed. you guys never tazed your friends in highschool?

moral of the story: dont throw tv's at the police.

OC spray is NASTY. it hurts so freakin bad. you recover after a taze pretty quickly, unharmed but pretty shaken up. the spray just keeps burning and burning and burning and its just pure miserable.. its also a risk to everyone around, you dont even have to be sprayed directly to be affected. id rather be tazed.

[TomsMR2]

and holy jump to conclusions! the article says nothing about diabetes or any other medical emergency. says they're doing a tox screen for drugs, but short of that nothing. that guy could have just been some d bag or crackhead. you can be high on methamphetamine for much more than 9 hours. people go crazy after a couple days or so.

[Mister2.2]

Drug user or not he didn't deserve to die at the hands of some poorly trained police officers.

[canadam]

Originally Posted by TomsMR2

and holy jump to conclusions! the article says nothing about diabetes or any other medical emergency. says they're doing a tox screen for drugs, but short of that nothing. that guy could have just been some d bag or crackhead. you can be high on methamphetamine for much more than 9 hours. people go crazy after a couple days or so.

Jump to conclusions? Read more articles on the same incident.

Originally Posted by Mister2.2

Drug user or not he didn't deserve to die at the hands of some poorly trained police officers.

He definitely didn't deserve to die, but what makes these 4 men poorly trained? Some have even called their attack malicious. The taser has been given to officers as a form of non-lethal incapacitation that minimizes risk of injury to the officer. I'd say they weren't really going out of their way in using it, the man needed to be disabled and dealt with. He was a danger to himself and others. Unfortunately, it seems that taser use hasn't been as safe as previously thought.

[Mister2.2]

I don't think it was ever PROVEN safe it just wasn't proven lethal. I say poorly trained because after they called a code red none of them gave him CPR. They just stood there starring at him.

Not to mention they approached him in a very threatening manner. They could have tried reasoning with him, trying to figure out what was wrong just by simply drawing on a piece of paper to try to open up communication.

I think cops today are too afraid of getting a bit bruised up.

[canadam]

Yeah, the man deserved a shot at resuscitation no doubt, but reasoning definitely wasn't in the cards. He had been approached by calm bystanders and just yelled in Polish for them to get away from him.

It shouldn't have come to scribbling on a scratch pad. YVR is supposed to have full, 24hr access to translation, but the man was not given access and no one knows why.

I really think someone in a distressed and obviously very aggravated state of mind could only continue to respond poorly when 4 law enforcement officers come their way, but it needed to be done. To me, the focus needs to be taken off of the officers in this case and placed directly on the taser device. The man did not deserve to die, but I really don't feel that this was police brutality.