Friday, February 13, 2009

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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4 comments:

Oemissions said...

One Sunday, during the Xmas holidays, CBC XCountry Checkup with Rex Murphy had a call in for nomination for newsworthy person. I got on the show and nominated Paul Pritchard. Who's that?
"The young man who shot the video of Robert Dzikenski at the airport in Vancouver"!
Without that video we would have never known.

Alison said...

Too true, O.
The Braidwood Inquiry has made good use of that footage too, at times going through it frame by frame.

RossK said...

What's most impressive, in my opinion, about Mr. Pritchard's actions is the way he went back at the Horseman and forced them to return the tape, and then made it public in its entirety.

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Patrick C said...

Ok, I just did an experiment with the stapler in my office, and the results were startling! Startling, I tell you! I submit to you that a common desk stapler could be a lethally accurate projectile weapon provided only that your target was lying completely immobile on the ground within about 2.5 feet of the stapler and was deathly allergic to staples.

Seriously, though, the whole Dziekanski thing just gets sadder and sadder the more I hear about it. I was pondering the whole situation the other night as I waited with a friend at the airport for said friend's non-English-speaking mother to arrive from Europe. Fortunately, translation services were available at customs, and duly provided!

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