The Mountie who shocked Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski with a Taser five times gave inaccurate statements about the incident to cover his mistakes, a lawyer suggested Tuesday.
Const. Kwesi Millington's initial account of what happened in the early hours of Oct. 14, 2007, when he confronted Dziekanski with three other officers at the Vancouver airport, contained numerous inaccuracies.
Among them:
- He deployed the Taser four times; records show it was used five times.
- Dziekanski was still standing after three shocks and had to be wrestled to the ground; video shows Dziekanski fell after being shocked the first time.
- Dziekanski waved a stapler wildly at the officers; video appears to show Dziekanski only waved his arms after being jolted by the Taser, at which point he staggered backwards and collapsed.
At a public inquiry being held in Vancouver, Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, suggested Millington sought to justify his use of force.
"You were covering yourself in your notes and in your statements, correct?" asked Kosteckyj on Tuesday, in the second day of testimony from Millington.
"No, I don't believe so," replied Millington. "That was what I recollected at the time."
Dziekanski died moments after being repeatedly shocked. An autopsy report gave the cause of death as cardiac arrest, and found no sign of drugs or alcohol in his system.
While Crown prosecutors have said they will not charge any of the officers because their use of force against Dziekanski was justified, the inquiry commissioner could make findings of misconduct against anyone involved in the incident.
Kosteckyj suggested the inconsistencies in Millington's initial report may been due to his panic over the situation.
"You panicked, you got this all wrong because you don't have a good recollection of what happened that night, do you?" said Kosteckyj.
"I made some mistakes in the statement but my overall recollection was good," replied Millington. "It was a fast-moving, stressful situation."
Millington had only been trained in how to use a Taser three months before the incident, and had never used the device on the job. The other officers involved were Const. Gerry Rundel, Const. Bill Bentley and Cpl. Benjamin Robinson.
On Monday, Millington testified that Dziekanski was acting aggressively and he was concerned because the immigrant was clutching a stapler.
"He was in a combative stance as we call it, and was approaching the officers, I believe with the intent to attack so I deployed the Taser," Millington said.
Each of the four officers who responded to the scene were wearing bullet-proof vests and each was armed with a gun, a baton and pepper spray, the inquiry heard. They were also standing several metres away from Dziekanski.
"Given all the four officers and the tools and the distance, that's what scared you?" inquiry lawyer Art Vertlieb asked Millington on Monday, referring to the stapler.
"That's what made me fear for the officers' safety," replied Millington.
