Mountie acquitted in Dziekanski case accuses RCMP of 'coverup'
Gerry Rundel says superiors helped 'fabricate a crime' by officers in Polish immigrant's death at YVR
One of the RCMP officers who responded on the night Robert Dziekanski was Tasered and died at Vancouver International Airport in 2007 has filed a complaint against his supervisors and others, saying they interfered in the ensuing legal processes.
Const. Gerry Rundel, who was acquitted of perjury for his testimony about the Polish immigrant's death, filed the formal complaint to the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC), the body in charge of reviewing RCMP conduct.
"Rather than take responsibility for their flawed Taser training and policy, they chose to redirect the blame and assisted to fabricate a crime on four of their own officers," Rundel said about his superiors in the complaint.
"An ensuing coverup of failing to disclose documents and properly investigate my complaints over the years is concerning and more importantly unlawful."
The CRCC acknowledged on Monday that it had received the complaint.
Rundel says he originally filed the complaint against RCMP "brass and others" at the beginning of May and, after hearing no response, requested an update a month later.
The CRCC dates his complaint to June 5.
Rundel was one four officers who responded to a call on Oct. 14, 2007, about Dziekanski, who had spent about eight hours stuck in customs at the airport and had started behaving erratically.
He was approached by the officers, jolted by a Taser multiple times and collapsed. He subsequently died.
The incident was caught on video by a bystander.
'Insurmountable' damages
Rundel alleges in his complaint that past and current members of the RCMP "interfered with a number of legal processes" since that day.
"The resulting damages that continue to this present day are insurmountable," he wrote.
Rundel also filed a lawsuit in 2016 claiming the force's actions have cost him his career and his health. The other officers at the scene have filed similar suits.
Only one of them, filed by former constable Bill Bentley, has been settled so far.
According to the complaints process, a copy of Rundel's complaint to the CRCC will be sent to the RCMP and an investigator assigned to look into it.
RCMP are required to update the complainant of the investigation's status within 45 days.