Dziekanski's mother has 'lost faith' in justice system, wants new probe

Robert Dziekanski's mother says she has "lost faith" in the Canadian justice system and wants the B.C. government to appoint a special prosecutor to re-examine her son's death.

Dziekanski died at the Vancouver airport in October 2007 after being shot multiple times with an RCMP Taser stun gun.

Mounties had been summoned because an agitated Dziekanski was throwing furniture, and he was hit with the stun gun, which is designed to incapacitate people with an electric shock, after he picked up a stapler.

Zofia Cisowski told reporters outside a public inquiry into his death Thursday that the police investigation into what happened was too focused on what her son did, rather than the actions of the officers.

A special prosecutor needs to take another look, she said.

"So far, the inquiry revealed that the RCMP and the Criminal Justice [Branch] had only one thing in mind, which is to blame my son for his death," Cisowski said.

'Special prosecutors are only appointed if there's a concern about bias or reasonable apprehension of bias [of the prosecutors].' — B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal

"I have lost faith in Canadian justice."

In announcing the decision last year not to charge the four officers involved, the Crown noted Dziekanski's fear of flying and raised the possibility he might have been an alcoholic.

Dziekanski's in-custody death was investigated by the provincial Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which includes RCMP and members of several municipal police forces.

Witnesses have told the inquiry that Dziekanski was only a social drinker and lawyers have suggested the 40-year-old may have had some legal problems when he was 17, more than two decades earlier.

But Cisowski said none of it is relevant to what happened once her son was in Vancouver's airport, where he spent nearly 10 hours, presumably lost and unable to speak English.

"They want to blame my son," she said. "[His death] happened in Canada."

Crown prosecutors have said they would need new evidence from police before they would re-examine the case, but Cisowski said the RCMP can't be trusted to investigate itself.

Attorney General Wally Oppal said Thursday that special prosecutors are only called in when there is a concern that the province or its Crown attorneys — not the police — wouldn't be able to be impartial, such as when a politician is under investigation.

"Special prosecutors are only appointed if there's a concern about bias or reasonable apprehension of bias [of the prosecutors]," Oppal said in an interview.

"Charging police doesn't fit into that category because when police have done something wrong, we've laid charges against them before."

Oppal repeated the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch position that it would be up to homicide investigators to reopen the case and present new evidence before charges would be reconsidered.

The integrated investigative team that handled the original probe has referred questions on the issue to RCMP.

The RCMP has said it will wait until after the inquiry makes its final report to decide whether to reopen the investigation.

Dziekanski panicked about flying: friend

Cisowski's comments followed testimony at the inquiry Thursday from a friend of Dziekanski from the small city of Gliwice, Poland.

Robert Dylski, who drove Dziekanski to the airport early on the morning of Oct. 13, 2007, told the inquiry his friend was panicked about flying and initially refused to leave.

He said Dziekanski grasped a radiator at home as his mother talked to him over a speaker phone. He vomited once or twice.

"That was a very, very high panic that he was in because he never flew in a plane and he was afraid of flying a plane," Dylski said.

"Everything he was talking about was related to his fear of flying. He was shaking for sure and he was holding onto the radiator."

But Dylski said after about 20 minutes Dziekanski calmed down, though he wasn't sure why.

Dziekanski was otherwise peaceful during the two-hour drive to the airport, he said.

Passengers and airline attendants on Dziekanski's two flights from Poland have told the inquiry he was peaceful and mostly sleeping during the flights.

Once he arrived, border officers and airport staff mostly said he was confused but otherwise calm and co-operative.

He started throwing furniture after he had cleared immigration, minutes after a loud confrontation with an irate limousine driver.