Polish man tasered and died in Vancouver airport by police

[NeonVomit]

Here is the video, and its a little disturbing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPCgwCS3viQ

Here's the cbc story on it.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html

He was held in the room for 10 hours without explanation
(or at least they wont tell us) His mom flew him over to live with him in Kamloops and he didnt speak english.

a couple weeeks ago a man got tasered in Kelowna who was 68 years old and had just had a stroke. i dunno i think that four cops would be able to take down a grown man without using a taser and also the 68 year old. both were unarmed.

[Miss Marie]

yeah, I find it interesting that we've heard so much about this case and yet on the same day a man was tasered and killed in Montreal's St-Michel/Villeray district and we heard nothing about it until 5 days later...and even then, it was mentionned once and everyone moved on. what makes the two stories different? I'm not saying that the Polish man deserved to die, but why is he more important than anyone else?

oh wait...the man in St-Michel man was black and St-Michel/Villeray is one of the country's poorest neighbourhoods.

I really don't know where I stand on the taser issue though. I think that obviously it needs to be used with the same caution they would use with a gun if they are going to use it (because its supposed to be used in a gun's place, right?). I mean, I'd bet that more people survive being tasered than being shot, right? and, why don't they use tranquiliser guns? there might be a very obvious reason for that, but I've been wondering that since all of this happened.

[opiiate]

I was SO FUCKING PISSED when I heard about this.

SO unbelieveably angry.

A polish immagrint, who didn't speak english was tasered to death because he was 'acting erratically'. JHFJVDSHFBKJHKJGHK rage.

[opiiate]

yeah, I find it interesting that we've heard so much about this case and yet on the same day a man was tasered and killed in Montreal's St-Michel/Villeray district and we heard nothing about it until 5 days later...and even then, it was mentionned once and everyone moved on. what makes the two stories different? I'm not saying that the Polish man deserved to die, but why is he more important than anyone else?

oh wait...the man in St-Michel man was black and St-Michel/Villeray is one of the country's poorest neighbourhoods.

I really don't know where I stand on the taser issue though. I think that obviously it needs to be used with the same caution they would use with a gun if they are going to use it (because its supposed to be used in a gun's place, right?). I mean, I'd bet that more people survive being tasered than being shot, right? and, why don't they use tranquiliser guns? there might be a very obvious reason for that, but I've been wondering that since all of this happened.

With regards to the killing of that poor man in your town/ province, welcome to goddamn news media in toronto. We don't have the ridiculous propaganda that the states has, but we have rampant racism. What a tradeoff, eh?

[NeonVomit]

well i havent heard the one about that guy in the east. but i didnt hear about the one in vancouver until a couple days ago and it happened in October. i just dont know if cops should be having tasers anymore. thats three insident in like 2 months.

[allison.r]

"He was held in the room for 10 hours without explanation ". the polish man was not held or detained in any way. he was waiting for his mom and the baggage area, like she told him to, but its a secure area so she could not get in. that is how they got confused and were not able to meet up. so he hung around by the baggage carosels for 5-6 hours and then got mad and threw the computer and the chair as he threatened to smash the glass apart. his mom left and headed back to kamloops, which i find odd. i mean if you son came here from poland, and you knew he didnt speak any english, you think you would realize the potential for mistakes and talk to a YVR employee about it. but instead she drove the 5 hours back to the interior. the whole thing is really sad though....she hadnt seen him in years, and she had saved up all her money to buy the plan ticket. by the time she was back in kamloops he was dead.

and as for the tranquiliser....being shot with a tranquiliser doesnt make you go down immediately (whereas a taser or gun has immediate effects) its takes a few seconds or minutes, which means that you can still attack youself or others before it has taken effect. it is not used on people or certain animals for this reason.

i found this story very sad but i dont think its a reason to outlaw tasers. were the cops out of line? yes. should the cops be punished? yes. was the video heartrenchingly sad? certainly. but should this be a reason to outlaw the use of tasers altogether? hell no. think of it this way...when the cops need to subdue someone for whatever reason, their option is a 99% non-lethal taser or a 100% lethal gun. i think id rather use the taser. tasers are a useful tool for the cops, and they have saved lives, its just that we dont ever hear about that in the media.

[Miss Marie]

yeah, see, I was confused about the whole "detained" thing. But I thought it was that they were waiting in different areas. Its really sad, don't get me wrong, but the way I see it, he was throwing stuff around in an airport, and I think that regardless of language, thats a bad idea. I don't know, the whole story is really odd.

I also feel really bad for cops (not necessarily these particular ones, they kinda seemed quick to react) but they often have to make split second decisions that result in someone's death, and as we've also seen here recently, sometimes its theirs. I know the situation with the man in Montreal who died due to being tasered, the cops were really really upset after (my dad works with them). They had no way of knowing that the taser combined with the drugs he'd consumed would result in death, you know?

I also wonder how someone was loitering/lingering by the baggage claim for so long and no one intervened. You would think that with airport security nowadays, that would be somehting they look out for. I know when I got back the last time, we were all being ushered along pretty damn quickly.

and thank you for clarifying about tranquilisers.

[TheWorstIdea]

He was held in the room for 10 hours without explanation ". the polish man was not held or detained in any way. he was waiting for his mom and the baggage area, like she told him to, but its a secure area so she could not get in. that is how they got confused and were not able to meet up.

From what I understand, he made it to the baggage claim but didn't know that he had to go through the second stage, which is where the whole problem started...he didn't check in with immigration officials, immigration told his mother that he wasn't in Vancouver, no one would find a translator, etc.

Anyway, I think the way the YVR reacted is beyond reprehensible. There are translators all over that airport, surely someone could have found someone that could have helped in the nine or ten hours that passed. Airport officials watch you like a hawk but no one notices a man sitting in a baggage claim area for hours?

[rebellemichelle]

He was held in the room for 10 hours without explanation ". the polish man was not held or detained in any way. he was waiting for his mom and the baggage area, like she told him to, but its a secure area so she could not get in. that is how they got confused and were not able to meet up.

From what I understand, he made it to the baggage claim but didn't know that he had to go through the second stage, which is where the whole problem started...he didn't check in with immigration officials, immigration told his mother that he wasn't in Vancouver, no one would find a translator, etc.

Anyway, I think the way the YVR reacted is beyond reprehensible. There are translators all over that airport, surely someone could have found someone that could have helped in the nine or ten hours that passed. Airport officials watch you like a hawk but no one notices a man sitting in a baggage claim area for hours?

yeah from what I understand his Mom was told he was not on the plane and there was no record of him arriving. I am sorry but the fact that someone couldn't find a translator to help him in an airport is insane and competely ridiculous. It sounds like pure laziness.

I think at this point there have been so many deaths from tazers for more minor infractoins/incidents I really wonder if they are being used properly and the training the police get before being given them is adequate.

and Marie I am sorry that something so awful happened in Montreal as well and of course it was'nt reported because it seems as though only about 5 things happen in the world every day and you hear about them endlessly for a week and then the story just goes away. It's the same thing here (although it was heavily reported but there was no consequences which is why everyone is up in arms) a police officer was driving drunk, killed someone, refused to take a breathalizer (which is actually illegal here) and as we hear more of the story it loosk like the police actually were encouraged by the police chief to cover up the fact the officer was drinking. It's disgusting. The same thing is going to happen with both of these cases, we are going to hear about it endlessly the RCMP is going to come out and say nothing improper happened ( because well it's competely fine if they investigate their own officers)

I don't know I think the system is broken and it doesn't look like it's going to be fixed anytime soon.

[WorkingClassSkin]

I don't know a lot about the story I heard last night on the news, but did anyone else hear about the guy who got tasered in the mouth?

I guess some security officer (Rent-A-Cop) shot the taser leads at him but at that exact moment, he turned around. Ouch.