The death of Robert Dziekański at Vancouver Airport prompted a public inquiry that exposed unjustified RCMP taser use and subsequent officer perjury.
Key Facts
- Victim's age
- 40 years old
- Taser deployments
- Four or five times
- Cause of death
- Heart attack induced by electrical shocks
- Inquiry report released
- June 18, 2010
- Officers sentenced to prison
- Two of four charged officers
- Prison terms handed down
- Twenty-four to thirty months
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Robert Dziekański, a 40-year-old Polish immigrant, had spent hours in the customs area of Vancouver International Airport without assistance. Growing increasingly frustrated and agitated, he began acting erratically toward airport staff, prompting a call to the RCMP.
Four RCMP officers confronted Dziekański in the international reception lounge on October 14, 2007. They pinned and handcuffed him, deploying a Taser electroshock weapon against him four or five times. He died at the scene from a heart attack caused by the electrical shocks. The incident was captured on video by eyewitness Paul Pritchard.
Pritchard's video, released to the press after he legally recovered it from police, brought widespread public attention to the case. A public inquiry concluded in 2010 that taser use was unjustified and that officers had deliberately misrepresented their actions. Two officers were eventually sentenced to prison for perjury, while two others were cleared.