Polish community questions officer's Taser inquiry testimony

Members of the Polish-Canadian community want the B.C. government to re-open an investigation into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport.

Jurek Baltakis, a personal friend of Dziekanski’s mother and spokesman for the Polish community in their hometown of Kamloops, B.C., has issued an appeal to B.C.’s premier to appoint a special prosecutor to reinvestigate Dziekanski’s death.

Baltakis pointed out that the seven-page public statement issued by B.C.’s criminal justice branch detailing why the four officers involved would not be charged, was disproportionately focused on Dziekanski’s actions.

"There is only maybe seven, eight sentences about RCMP actions so in our judgment, reopening the investigation by the same people … is useless."

Baltakis also wants a comprehensive testing of Tasers in Canada and immediate disciplinary action to be taken against the officers.

The RCMP and attorney-general’s office, however, have said they are waiting until there is a full report and recommendations from the inquiry before they take any further actions.

The call to reopen the investigation came as the RCMP officer in charge the night Dziekanski was stunned with Tasers in 2007 endured another day of cross-examination on Wednesday at the Braidwood inquiry.

Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson has either retracted some of the statements he made to homicide investigators or insisted amateur video captured of the incident did not depict his efforts to calm Dziekanski down before he ordered officers to use a Taser on him.

Robinson, for example, admitted that while his description of Dziekanski swinging a stapler at officers was false, he tried his best to tell the truth.

Robinson was adamant that, although some of the mistakes in testimony he made were the same as those made by the three other officers who were on scene, no one compared notes.

"There was no discussion between you and your fellow officers about the incident?" asked Don Rosenbloom, lawyer for the government of Poland.

"No, none whatsoever …," Robinson replied. "The only thing we discussed was how everyone was feeling."

Zygmunt Riddle, a member of B.C.’s Civil Liberties Association, is also not convinced of Robinson’s testimony and wants B.C.’s attorney-general’s office to investigate.  

"As we all know now, they didn't tell the truth. Maybe they didn't tell the truth before and maybe there's some victims … because of their false testimony."

The inquiry continues on Thursday.