Mr. Dziekanski was a 40 year old Polish construction worker who was on his way to be reunited with his mother, who had saved up the money to help her some immigrate to Canada to start a new life. Sounds like the start of the story for many families here in Canada.
However Mr. Dziekanski’s story takes a tragic twist. After arriving at the Vancouver airport he waits 10 hours for his mother, who is waiting in arrival. She, after waiting for her son for 6 hours she gets frustrated and drives back to Kamloops. Upon returning she recieves a message that her son is at the airport. However by this time he is not. He is at the morgue. Killed by a policeman’s taser.
I find it interesing that there has been no release of video. That her lawyer, Mr. Kosteckyj, has not demanded the release of the airport video is odd. Under the freedom of information act I am sure that he can get it released. This video will show conclusively the length of time between police encountering Mr. Dziekanski and his getting shot with the taser and untimely death.
One thing I find odd is that while we know Mrs. Dziekanski asked for several help, that no one has mentioned if Mr. Dziekanski asked for help.
Being a world traveller, I can almost guarantee that he did. I have been in numerous countries where I didn’t speak the language, where I have felt lost and alone, unsure of what to do next and personally I always looked for some sort of uniform.
I suspect that there is something else we are missing. Why wait for 10 hours in a place where you are not getting help. I suspect that he was waiting dor lugguage to be returned or something of that nature. Not that this changes anything. The police are still responsible for his death, and now we have to find out of they are criminally responsible.
More reading:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/10/26/bc-tasernodrugs.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/10/16/bc-taser.html