Canada: Day pledges Taser probe

Dramatic video of a distraught Polish immigrant dying after being shot by an RCMP stun gun has ignited a fiery national debate on the use of Tasers.

The 10-minute clip was captured on video by another passenger at Vancouver airport and beamed to the world Wednesday. MPs and human rights groups are calling on the government to explore tighter regulations for the potentially deadly use of force.

Piotr Ogrodzinski, Poland's ambassador to Canada, said he was shocked and heartbroken by the video.

"My impression, based on what I have seen, is that the RCMP took action that was not necessary," he told Sun Media in an interview. "He was agitated, frustrated and desperate for help."

Ogrodzinski said the footage was to air on television stations across Poland last night, and he expected widespread shock and outrage. He called for a moratorium on Tasers pending reviews.

Robert Dziekanski, 41, had arrived in Canada to start a new life with his mother last month. After several hours of delays in processing at the airport, he began to yell and throw objects. The video shows him writhing on the ground after four Mounties tried to subdue him with a Taser. He died moments later.

Yesterday, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the RCMP will review the use of Tasers, and the incident will be scrutinized by a coroner's inquest and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

"Many of us who watched that video footage can certainly understand the shock and grief, especially experienced by the mother of the deceased individual. Our hearts go out to her," he said. "We want to make sure that public safety is maintained and that answers are found on this particular issue."

The American company that manufactures the weapon stands by the safety of its product, insisting it saves thousands of lives.

Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle said the incident appears to follow the pattern of many in-custody deaths, which are wrongly blamed on Tasers, and said medical and law enforcement experts have concluded the technology is effective and safe.

"Cardiac arrest caused by electrical current is immediate. This video indicates that the subject was continuing to fight well after the Taser application," he said. "This continuing struggle could not be possible if the subject died as a result of the electrical current causing cardiac arrest. His continuing struggle is proof that the Taser device was not the cause of his death."