Inquest into Polish man's death after Taser incident in the works
Last Updated: Saturday, November 17, 2007 | 5:05 AM PT
CBC News
A public inquest into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport is expected to begin next spring or early next summer, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.
A memorial for Robert Dziekanski is scheduled for Saturday in Kamloops, B.C.
(CBC)
Work has already begun, and because the 40-year-old's death involved police a public inquest is mandatory, said Jeff Dolan, assistant deputy chief coroner.
"It’s not a fault finding investigation. The goal is not to assign fault or blame … the goal is to simply state the facts surrounding the death," Dolan told CBC News on Friday.
Dziekanski was emigrating to Canada to join his mother in the B.C. Interior city of Kamloops, but he died at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, after being stunned by an RCMP Taser.
A memorial for Dziekanski is scheduled for Saturday in Kamloops.
Among the people to be subpoenaed will be pathologists and toxicologists who examined Dziekanski's death, the RCMP officers who subdued the victim, as well as eyewitnesses and even airport and border officials, Dolan said.
Before police arrived, Robert Dziekanski picked up a small table and put it in the doorway between the customs exit area and a public lounge.
(Paul Pritchard)
A five-person jury will have to decide whether Dziekanski's death was natural, accidental, a homicide, a suicide or of an undetermined nature, Dolan said.
The jury will make recommendations but they won't be mandatory.
Dolan said the coroners investigation is an independent one.
"It is to ensure that none of the facts surrounding a death are concealed or ignored,” he said.
"We certainly want to bring to light or make public any issue surrounding a death and again the ultimate goal is to make any recommendation where we can prevent death or injury from occurring again."
The RCMP's integrated homicide investigation team, the Vancouver International Airport Authority and the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP are each conducting their own investigations into the incident.
