Killing of Robert Dziekański

On October 14, 2007, Robert Dziekański (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt dʑeˈkaɲski]), a 40-year old Polish immigrant to Canada, was killed during an arrest at the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia (BC).

During customs processing, Dziekański began showing frustration and agitation towards airport staff. When members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) encountered him in the international reception lounge at the airport, they pinned, handcuffed and used a Taser electroshock weapon on Dziekański multiple times—with accounts suggesting the weapon was used four or five times. Dziekański died at the scene from a heart attack induced by the electrical shocks.

Video of the incident was recorded by an eyewitness, Paul Pritchard. The police initially took possession of the memory card containing the video as evidence, stating it would compromise the investigation if it were released to the public at that time. However, the following month, Pritchard was able to re-obtain the video, and sold it to the press—which brought additional prominence to the case. The final inquiry report, released on June 18, 2010, concluded that the RCMP were not justified in using a taser against Dziekański, and that the officers later deliberately misrepresented their actions to investigators. The four officers involved were charged with perjury and in 2015, two of the defendants were cleared of all charges while the remaining two were sentenced to twenty-four to thirty months in prison.