The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

You undoubtedly heard about the Polish man who got tasered waiting for 10 hours at the Vancouver airport and soon afterwards died. Unfortunately, the word spread quickly that the video shot of the incident was posted on Youtube, and much like a car wreck I had to see what happened. Here's the link (the video is pretty long, just under 10 minutes):

Video of Robert Dziekanski getting tasered

Mr. Dziekanski doesn't speak English. Most of the police and airport personnel thought he was Russian but nevertheless, as the video demonstrates, they had no idea how to handle the situation.

First, how is it possible a passenger can get stuck at what I think is customs FOR OVER 10 HOURS? He is obviously agitated, dripping with sweat, and rightfully so. Now I don't condone him throwing furniture as he did. But everyone has their limits and airport staff should have tried to get him through customs or help him get to wherever it was he had to go. You might say none of the staff should be expected to speak Polish, but I say when you have passengers coming in from all over the world, you should at least be trained on how to handle a situation as simple as a non-English speaking passenger needing assistance to get to his final destination.

Now let's talk about the police who were called to the scene. Is it me, or did they waste no time sending 50,000 volts through this poor guy's body? It seems they already had in mind what they were going to do and non-physical means wasn't an option. And again, the police were likely informed Mr. Dziekanski couldn't speak English, so how exactly were they planning to negotiate without a translator to help them? Police have the most difficult job in the world and I'm not as suspicious of their intentions as others, but the video demonstrates they did their job here poorly.

The worst part of all this is the response from the company who makes the tasers. A representative said that proof is shown in the video that tasers aren't lethal because you can see the victim still struggling after getting zapped by the taser gun no less than two times. Okay then...so how he exactly did he die? You're telling me he died just by coincidence after getting shocked by 50,000 volts of electricity? It reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where a customer died after participating in a steak eating contest at a restaurant:

"This man died from meat poisoning!"
(Restaurant clientele gasp in unison)
"Uh..obviously from meat eaten at a different restaurant."
(Restaurant patrons breathe a sigh of relief in unison and resume eating their steaks).

This is an absolute travesty, and I hope for the sake of the Dziekanski family justice will be served and this never, ever happens again.