Officers used reasonable force,
police expert tells taser inquiry
James Keller, Globe and Mail, April 17, 2009
Four RCMP officers used reasonable force when they confronted Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport and stunned him several times with a taser, a police expert said yesterday at a public inquiry into the man’s death.
Sergeant Brad Fawcett of the Vancouver police said because the officers believed Mr. Dziekanski was about to attack them or someone else with a stapler, they had reasonable grounds to use the stun gun.
Yet Sgt. Fawcett, who provided a report to homicide investigators on the use of force against Mr. Dziekanski, said he probably would not have reacted the same way.
He said his evaluation hinged on what the officers perceived at the time — regardless of whether those perceptions were actually correct.
“What matters in terms of the use-of-force analysis is: What was the officer’s perception of the resistance?” he said.
His report elaborated further: “The reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable peace officer on the scene, rather than with 20/20 vision of hindsight.”
Police were called after Mr. Dziekanski started throwing furniture on Oct. 14, 2007. They stunned him five times within seconds of arriving, and he died shortly after.
Sgt. Fawcett had viewed a witness video of the fatal confrontation, but much of his report reflects statements the officers gave to investigators.
The inquiry has heard that those statements conflict with the video, but Sgt. Fawcett found the officers’ statements were supported by the video.
For example, his report appears to accept the officers’ claims that Mr. Dziekanski remained standing immediately following the first taser jolt, with his hands clenched around the stapler. The video shows him flail about for a few seconds before collapsing on the ground.
When one of Mr. Dziekanski’s arms lifts above his head, the stapler visibly flying away, Sgt. Fawcett’s report describes the action as “consistent with striking or throwing.”
Sgt. Fawcett agreed with the officers that Mr. Dziekanski appeared to be fighting back after he collapsed to the floor.
He said it doesn’t matter whether Mr. Dziekanski was actually resisting or if he was reacting to the pain of the taser.
“If the officer perceived it to be a response to the push-stun [taser deployment], that would be one thing,” he testified. “If the officer’s perception was it was conscious resistance on the part of the subject, then that’s another matter.”
Still, Sgt. Fawcett said he doesn’t think he would have reacted the way the officers did.
“In any group of officers, you’d have a range of responses — would I have done the same thing? Probably not,” he said. He wasn’t asked to elaborate.
The lawyer for Mr. Dziekanski’s mother said police officers aren’t off the hook just because they perceived something. The perception must be reasonable, he said.
“So it’s not just what he perceives. What he perceives has to be reasonable, correct? It’s measured against what is a reasonable perspective, right?” asked Walter Kosteckyj, himself a former RCMP officer.
Credit: Canadian Press
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