When tasers were first introduced into the law enforcement arena they were hailed as a non-lethal way of bringing volatile situations to a close. It appears as time moves forward that they are being used by police far to quickly, with sometimes lethal consequences.

Dzieka?ski handcuffed and pinned by RCMP officers.

If not so tragic, the testimony at the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski would be a comical farce. Dziekanski was a 40 year old Polish immigrant who arrived at Vancouver airport in October 2007. He spent about 10 hours wandering the airport, inhibited by not knowing any English from getting the help he needed to locate his mother who was to meet him on his arrival.

Eventually the RCMP were called, four of them arriving at the airport to confront this obviously tired and frustrated immigrant. Thankfully, someone at the airport managed to video what happened as, within roughly 30 seconds, of their arrival the four mounties had tasered the man 5 times, wrestled with him to subdue him and then realized he was dead.

What crime did he commit? From testimony at the inquiry, he apparently picked up a stapler and held it just above his waist in a menacing manner. Just how menacing can you be with a desk stapler? These guys were fully trained and wearing body armour, just what did they think this confused and dazed traveller was going to do? Staple a note to their heads or something?

Rather than attempt to calm the man and summon someone to interprete for them the officers went on the attack. One of the four (thankfully only one), Constable Kwesi Millington carried a taser. He shot it at Dziekanski, who went down writhing on the floor as the other three constables attempted to handcuff him. Millington hit him with the taser four more times while he was on the floor — 50,000 volts per hit.

Millington succeeded in subduing Dziekanski, he died. No further struggle. The RCMP supposedly has investigated the incident and found none of the four constables legally liable for the death. Excuse me, Millington alone should be in serious trouble for the multiple shots and all four of them for their failure to attempt other ways to bring the situation to a peaceful conclusion.

Is this the new way of policing? Don’t bother trying to gain a peaceful conclusion just taser the ‘troublemaker’, handcuff and drag away. It is looking an awful lot like tasers are rapidly becoming the tool of choice to bully submission out of anyone who gains the attention of the police.

We need to be giving this a very serious look before every cop is carrying one and little oversight into when and how they use them.

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