Inquiry leaves a bad taste in my mouth

The death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver Airport made headlines in 2007, calling into question the actions of the RCMP and the use of tasers.

Now, with an inquiry being held to determine what happened and why, the story is again all over the news.

I listen to CBC radio in my car every day, and every day more tape from the inquiry is played in the hourly newscast. Listening to RCMP Const. Kwesi Millington defending his actions almost makes me violent.

From The Star:

However, earlier in the inquiry, Millington said the officers, all of whom were wearing body armour and had pepper spray, batons and service revolvers, were fearful of their own safety and that’s why he used the Taser.

“I feared for the safety of the other officers and I acted to stop the threat,” he said.

And what would cause these officers to feel so threatened? Well, according to Millington, Dziekanski was brandishing a stapler. A stapler.

I understand that under stressful circumstances, the police have to use their best judgement, but for all intents and purposes, Const. Millington seems to have not only over-reacted, but directly ignored his training.

The same article from The Star:

Millington said he had been trained not to fire the weapon multiple times at one subject and that he was supposed to give a warning before firing, known as the challenge: “Police. Stop or you’ll be hit with 50,000 volts of electricity.”

But there was no time to give the warning, Millington said, because the other three officers were having trouble subduing Dziekanski, who was writhing on the floor after the first shot.

Perhaps he was writhing about because he was being jolted with 50,000 volts of electricity. Maybe?

The problem with all of Millington’s testimony is that there is a video of the incident (which I’m sure we’ve all seen) that shows  a lot of what he is saying is not entirely what happened.

Tom Brodbeck gives a very sarcastic and biting look at the discrepancies in Millington’s story compared to what happened in the video.

This whole thing just makes me sick, and that instead of trying to calm someone down, trying to use the training you are given to diffuse the situation without force, the officers would just give up and taser someone who is obviously confused and obviously cannot understand.

And to try and defend his judgement by saying he felt threatened by a stapler or that Dziekanski had assumed a threatening posture, Millington is just clouding public opinion and making his own actions look much worse.