|
Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
|
|
Friday, 18 July 2008 |
Zofia Cisowski, left, is comforted by longtime friend Sue Norton has she wipes away the tears during a memorial service for her son Robert Dziekanski, 40, in Kamloops, B.C. on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007. THE CANADIANPRESS/Jeff Bassett
Related Items
No keywords found
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - A memorial will be held Saturday in Poland for Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died at Vancouver International Airport last October after being jolted by an RCMP Taser.
Kamloops resident Zofia Cisowski, Dziekanski's mother, travelled to the town of Pieszyce, Poland for the service. "It is a very important event," said Cisowski's lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj.
"She had hoped her son was going to be here, her parents are buried in the same location and this is the final resting for her son."
Dziekanski died shortly after being shocked twice by a Taser when he was confronted by four RCMP officers last October in the international arrivals area of the airport.
The 42-year-old had been waiting at the airport for several hours for his mother. RCMP were summoned by airport security after an agitated Dziekanski smashed an airport computer and vandalized other airport property.
A bystander's videotape of Dziekanski's collapse and death was broadcast worldwide on TV and the Internet, and set off a public outcry.
The ordeal has taken a toll on Dziekanski's mother.
"She is still having a very hard time," explained family friend Jerzey Baltakis. "Any time she goes to Vancouver, especially Vancouver airport, she is shaking she is crying."
Dziekanski's death raised questions about police use of such stun weapons.
The death prompted several inquiries into Taser use by police, including an investigation by RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy and the Commons Public Safety Committee.
A B.C. public inquiry into the general use of Tasers by law enforcement is expected to release a report this fall after hearing submissions from police, medical and legal experts.
A second phase of that public inquiry is to begin Oct. 20 looking specifically at Dziekanski's death.
 |
|
Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
