Is Jacqui Smith among the tens of thousands of people who have watched an online video of the death of Robert Dziekanski moments after being shot with a Taser by Canadian police? Judging by the Home Secretary's suggestion this month that it would be a "sensible policy" to supply the weapons to all British police officers, one must assume not.
The grim footage shows the 40-year-old Pole growing increasingly distressed in Vancouver airport. The builder, who had never flown before and spoke only Polish, spent ten hours lost in the airport, searching for his mother who he failed to meet due to a mix-up. When he started moving chairs and muttering to himself, he caught the eye of a fellow traveller, who idly captured his antics on camera.
Sweating and wide-eyed, Dziekanski grows increasingly |
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Today London police get stun guns, even though a video shows they can be fatal, says KATHARINE HIBBERT |
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distressed and throws a small table and a computer to the floor. Then four Mounties rush in. Dziekanski appears to have his arms up when one of the officers shoots him with a Taser. Dziekanski (left) falls to the floor screaming and thrashing. A voice can be heard shouting: "Hit him again! Hit him again!" The officers stun Dziekanski at least once more, then all four physically restrain him. Moments later, Dziekanski is dead.
Inquiries into the death continue, but calls are growing for a moratorium on Taser use in Canada. Amnesty International estimates that 290 people have died after being Tasered by police in North America since 2001. Coroners have attributed most of those deaths to other causes, but inquests found the stun-gun to have been a cause or possible contributory factor in more than 30 of the deaths.
The Taser causes incapacitating  |
People: Student gets Tasered
Picture Past: 1829
Murders could end new-style policing
