RCMP officer Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team claims that Robert Dziekanski was still alive when the medical teams arrived, CBC reports. He claims that after officers tasered him repeatedly and knelt on his neck and head (remember we have the video), that they monitored Dziekanski.
“As soon as that was done, he was monitored, and he was monitored for a period of time and identified that he was breathing and that he was fine,” Carr said.
How exactly does the RCMP define “fine”? I would imagine having 50,000 volts rip through your body to the point where you died would mean you were not “fine”. The CBC further reports,
Immediately, a crew initiated a medical assessment and asked police to remove Dziekanski’s handcuffs, but the officers refused.
“Our officers assessed and felt that it was not a safe environment to have those handcuffs removed,” Carr said.
Why was it not safe? Mr. Dziekanski was unconsious, were they concerned he was faking it? That he was going to sping up and run away? Only after the Mr. Dziekanski was dead did they take off the cuffs.
I guess he was no longer a threat.
When reporters asked about the fire department’s claim that Dziekanski was already dead when they arrived and why officers would still perceive a threat and not remove his handcuffs, a spokesperson for the RCMP said that’s a question for the public inquiry.
Lets hope the inquiry does not have any affiliation with the RCMP this time.