Lorne Gunter: My RCMP mea culpa

[jdobbin]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/f...-mea-culpa.aspx

I apologize for sticking up for the Mounties who Tasered Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. He died soon after. More than that, I am sorry for suggesting in print that Mr. Dziekanski and his mother, Zofia Cisowski, had some culpability in his death; he for acting bizarrely, she for failing to do more to locate her son before he went berserk after waiting mistakenly for hours in a Canada Customs office in the terminal.

Lorne Gunter was fairly dismissive of the whole thing when it happened. He wasn't the only one.

The Braidwood inquiry has been pretty thorough in revealing inconsistencies in police response to the video recording. However, it is the aftermath of what happened that has probably turned around the thinking of even the most vocal of police supporters.

You simply can't justify the complete lack of scrutiny and outright cover-up of the event immediately after.

Since Vancouver there have been a few video and picture recording devices confiscated at crime scenes. In Winnipeg, there have been a few accusations of deleted pictures. In one incident, a local CBC cameraman had his camera confiscated even though he was videoing from outside the crime scene.

I would hate to think that the solution to this problem on the part of the unscrupulous would be to delete recordings. The judge should ensure that such evidence does not end up down the rabbit hole.

[Goat Boy©]

I'm still waiting to watch Montie's trial. I grew up in Tsawwassen where he killed the kid.

[fellowtraveller]

One of the most disturbing elements of this affair, other than the death of the visitor, was the discussion over the possibility that all four Mounties committed perjury when they testified they had not discussed Tasering the victim before arriving at the scene.

That is unresolved, and it will be ijnteresting to see how far the RCMP brass and prosecutors take it.

[ToadBrother]

He forgot to mention that the RCMP went out of their way to prove Robert Dziekanski was some sort of alcoholic criminal, despite the fact that Immigration had already cleared them. The RCMP killed a guy, tried to make it look like the guys fault, and got very open support from the Premier of British Columbia and Crown Prosecutors, who decided, despite video evidence showing that damned near everything the officers' in question claimed was pure BS.

These cops need to go on trial, the Crown Prosecutor's office needs to be cleansed of people who seem to think making sure the RCMP looks good is more important than justice, and the Premier of British Columbia needs to publicly condemn the RCMP and apologize to the man's mother.

In the future, the RCMP needs a civilian investigative watchdog which can independently investigate and press charges without having to wait around for the Old Boys' Club of the Attorney General and Crown Prosecutors.

[ToadBrother]

One of the most disturbing elements of this affair, other than the death of the visitor, was the discussion over the possibility that all four Mounties committed perjury when they testified they had not discussed Tasering the victim before arriving at the scene.

That is unresolved, and it will be ijnteresting to see how far the RCMP brass and prosecutors take it.

I'm getting the sense that these four officers are about to be cut loose. The pressure for charges to be laid is going to be insurmountable once the inquiry wraps up. The Provincial Attorney General isn't going to want this to be yet another thing the BC Liberals have to deal with, and the RCMP needs very much to restore its tarnished image.