Taser inquiry: Mountie not a trained medical person

THE CANADIAN PRESS PHOTOS

Zofia Cisowski and, below, her son, Robert Dziekanski.

Given the template in which the commanding officer didn't have up-to-date first aid or Taser certification, there were many moments of sick humour during this week's questioning of senior officer, Cpl. Benjamin "Monty" Robinson. (By out-of-date, one should explain his first-aid certification expired in March 2003 and his Taser training in March 2006. Still, he testified he considered himself capable of offering medical assistance to Robert Dziekanski and give commands for Taser use, although he didn't carry one himself.)

Here's an example of the type of daily exchanges that had listeners groaning:

Don Rosenbloom, lawyer for the Polish republic, attempted to ascertain Robinson's awareness of Dziekanski's condition as lay on the floor, face down, hands cuffed behind his back.

Robinson had observed his ears were blue.

Rosenbloom explained to the inquiry that's what happens when someone is cyanotic: the extremities turn blue.

"Extremities?" asked Robinson, as if puzzled.

"Yes," said Rosenbloom. "Would you agree earlobes are an extremity?"

Replied Robinson: “I’m not a trained medical person."

For the record, it should be noted another officer considered Dziekanski's "blue discolouration" serious enough to merit a Code 3 emergency call to paramedics. Dziekanski was pronounced dead at the scene.

* * *

Liberal MP Mark Holland, the public safety/national security critic representing Ajax-Pickering, said he couldn't even imagine how Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski can sit daily, as she's been doing, and keep hearing and seeing (the video) and know, "this is the way her son's life ended."

But she continues to hold vigil in the Braidwood Commission inquiry room, listening, watching, occasionally sobbing softly or wiping her brow with a cloth. She looks like her deceased son, the same round face, almond-shaped eyes and dark hair. At 71, she shows what her son might have looked like had he lived another 31 years.

Dziekanski planned to live with his mother in Kamloops. On the more than 15 hours of travel from Poland, with a transfer in Germany, he'd lugged mostly beloved geography books in his suitcases.

He arrived in Vancouver at 3 p.m.; his mother was waiting for him. She waited until 10 p.m. and, having been assured by airport staffers her son wasn't there, drove home to Kamloops.

He wandered helplessly around the secure international arrivals area, with nobody apparently able to help him, before police were called. She drove home to a message saying her son had been found and was fine. Around 2 a.m., she began the drive back to the airport, only to discover the information was tragically false

Comments

[Neil Carlin]

Considering the escalation of inappropriate TASER use and resulting deaths, I think that a more appropriate motto for police forces these days is: "TO SERVE AND PROJECT" - Taser darts, that is.

On the officer's knee in neck issue-- as dangerous that obviously is- even if the weight was not in his neck - the weight of several hudreds of pound ofcops on his back would surely have prevented him from breathing - it is called positional asphyxiation. And is especeially dangerous when people are in a super excited state - heart rate through the roof as this poor man's surely was, after receiving multiple high energy shocks. I think officer's testimony speaks for itself - the man has no business doing police work.

[Dave Y.]

What is happening when one of the officers, the one at the right, seems to be pounding the prone and quiet Robert 3 times with the end of a tubular device? Is this the taser?