The RCMP and the Richmond B.C. fire department appear to be offering conflicting accounts as to whether Robert Dziekanski was already dead by the time medical help arrived.

RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is investigating the Polish immigrant's death on Oct. 14 at the Vancouver International airport, said on Friday that Dziekanski was still alive by the time medical personnel arrived.

"Based on the continuous monitoring and the assessments that the officers and the [airport] security officer were doing, it was their impression that Mr. Dziekanski had a pulse and that he was breathing up until the time that medical emergency personnel arrived."

But Geoff Lake, deputy chief of the Richmond Fire Department, said Dziekanski was already dead when his crew arrived on scene. 

The Polish immigrant had been acting distressed at the airport and was shouting and smashing furniture. He was hit with a Taser 25 seconds after police arrived. The cause of death has not yet been determined.

Carr said in the moments leading up to Dziekanski's death, the officers were doing everything they could to assist him.

Carr said right after Dziekanski was shot with the Taser, he was arrested and placed in handcuffs.

"As soon as that was done, he was monitored, and he was monitored for a period of time and identified that he was breathing and that he was fine," Carr said.

Minutes later, police said Dziekanski slipped into unconsciousness. Emergency medical personnel were then called.

"He was breathing and he had a pulse. They continued to do that monitoring throughout the time they were waiting for emergency personnel to arrive," Carr said.

Within six minutes, the Richmond Fire Department arrived on the scene.

Immediately, a crew initiated a medical assessment and asked police to remove Dziekanski's handcuffs, but the officers refused.

"Our officers assessed and felt that it was not a safe environment to have those handcuffs removed," Carr said.

But the Richmond Fire Department said that when fire crews checked his vitals, he had no pulse and was not breathing.

"Our crews, while they were doing their assessment, had asked for the handcuffs to be taken off," said Lake. "The RCMP had indicated that he had been violent before and they didn't want to take the handcuffs off and so our crews continued with their assessment.

"He definitely had no pulse and no breathing," Lake said. "Clinically yes, I  guess he was dead."

B.C. Ambulance Service arrived next and also asked for Dziekanski's handcuffs to be removed, at which point police obliged.

When asked by CBC News about the fire department's claim that Dziekanski was already dead when they arrived and why officers would still perceive a threat and not remove his handcuffs, a spokesperson for the RCMP said that's a question for the public inquiry.

A video recording that a witness captured of Dziekanski's death sparked a national and international furor over the use of Tasers by the RCMP.