The Braidwood inquiry, investigating the tasering death of Robert Dziekanski at the hands of the RCMP continued today. Captain Kirby Graeme, one of the firefighters dispatched to the Vancouver airport said that when he arrived, he found a pale, unresponsive man face down in handcuffs as officers stood metres away doing nothing. Not only were they not doing anything to help the man, but when Graeme asked they remove the handcuffs so as to get a better assessment, they refused.
The captain also said he was surprised the airport's own firefighters were not on the scene. He estimated their location to be approximately 800 metres away, and could have attempted to help Mr.Dziekanski much quicker than his squad, who traveled 6 kilometres. It's still not known why the airport crew was not called, however, Mr.Graeme let it be known that he had spoken with members of the airport's emergency response team and they were highly frustrated at not being involved in this matter.
"To see a patient face-down, handcuffed and not being tended to in some way, shape or form, I thought, 'Something's not right here,"' said Graeme, a firefighter with more than two decades of experience.
"I saw it being unprofessional."
Graeme was asked by Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, if he considered whether the officers "were obstructing your efforts to be able to help this man?"
"Yes," replied Graeme.
Graeme said Dziekanski was laying on his face with his head turned to one side, and had not been placed in a first-aid position known as "recovery position."
He said by the time his crew arrived at the airport, six-and-a-half minutes after a dispatcher first received the call, Dziekanski had no pulse and was likely already dead.
It wasn't until paramedics arrived shortly after that officers finally removed the handcuffs.
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The RCMP don't know who they work for. Honest. The RCMP need reform, but not one government will force that, they need them too much to hide their own corruption. It's just a given. I bet those idiots have all been promoted, that's how they hide the problems. They are a disgrace to our nation.
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymous, you make an interesting point regarding promotions. In earlier testimony, one of the border officers, now promoted to supervisor, claimed she was proud of her officers in the way they acted the day Mr.Dziekansky died.
ReplyDeleteHow anyone involved with keeping a passenger in the airport for 10 hours can say they are proud, is baffling.
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/11/19/DisbandRCMP/
ReplyDeleteThat's an '07 Tyee article and just the tip of the iceberg. It is a culture very carefully managed by politicians. The obstruction of justice is their forte. The provincial contracts are up I believe in '11, let's see what happens. The current commish is hated by the rank and file.
Thanks for the link Anon. Interesting read. I came across the Ian Bush story yesterday, or the day before while searching for news on Mr.Dziekanski. Pretty messed up stuff, it certainly doesn't add up. And as the Tyee article points out, how can they be seen as legitimate when they are investigating themselves?
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