The RCMP is seeking approval to travel to Poland in order to gather information about Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died after being Tasered at Vancouver airport last month, Â鶹´«Ã½ has learned.
The RCMP told Â鶹´«Ã½ it would seek to investigate, among other things, Dziekanski's medical history as well as his criminal history in Poland.
The information would be used in several of the ongoing inquiries and investigations launched in Canada.
The Mounties say they would first need internal approval and diplomatic passports before embarking on the fact-finding mission. It's not known how many officers would go, or when.
The news comes on the day Polish prosecutors in Dziekanski's former hometown of Gliwice announced they have launched their own investigation in the man's death, and said they would seek to find out whether Mounties in Vancouver "exceeded their authority and unintentionally caused the death."
Michal Szulczynski, a spokesperson for the Gliwice prosecutor's office, said Wednesday that the investigation was launched Nov. 22 after Polish diplomats in Canada informed Polish prosecutors of Dziekanski's death.
Video shot by a witness showed police using a Taser on Dziekanski, within 25 seconds of confronting him in the early-morning hours of Oct. 14.
B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal says the Polish prosecutors are entitled to hold their own investigation.
"They are well within their rights to demand answers for what happened to their national," Oppal said, adding, "whether or not that investigation has any repercussions is something else."
Oppal said he couldn't comment on Polish law and how it may be applied to an investigation involving Canadian citizens.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) released its report into the Dziekanski incident last Monday and there are at least eight more investigations underway, including a public inquiry launched by the B.C. government and a federal inquiry into the RCMP's use of Tasers.
With a report from The Canadian Press
