Poland seeks to discuss Taser shooting with Canadian ambassador
Last Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 9:07 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
- AUDIO: Polish Ambassador to Canada Piotr Ogrodzinski reacts to Taser video (Runs 11:29)
- VIDEO: Federal Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh wants national Taser review (Runs 5:55)
- Taser video shows RCMP shocked immigrant within 25 seconds of their arrival
- Cash for Taser video will pay for father's medical treatment: Pritchard
Canada's ambassador to Poland has been invited to sit down with Polish officials in Warsaw on Monday to discuss the death of Robert Dziekanski after he was stunned by an RCMP Taser at Vancouver International Airport.
Ambassador Piotr Ogrodzinski says the Polish embassy in Ottawa has been flooded with e-mails and phone calls from Canadians expressing sympathy and outrage over what happened to Robert Dziekanski.
(CBC)
Many Poles view it as a case of excessive force by police using a weapon that may be unsafe, Piotr Ogrodzinski, the Polish ambassador to Canada, said in Ottawa on Thursday.
Ogrodzinski told CBC News the Polish embassy has been flooded with e-mails and phone calls from Canadians expressing sympathy and outrage over what happened to Dziekanski on Oct. 14.
"I believe Canadians are extremely compassionate and they have this feeling of sympathy … to help someone who seems to be helpless and disoriented."
Ogrodzinski said he has seen the Taser video many times and finds it sad — particularly when it appears Dziekanski might have been relieved to see the RCMP arrive.
Before police arrived Robert Dziekanski picked up office furniture and began to place it in the doorway between the customs area and the public lounge. (Paul Pritchard)
"The video does not give us a clear recording of what he was shouting but what I have heard in Polish is the beginning … Pol, which could be either policja — in other words calling for police — or pomocy, which in Polish means help," Ogrodzinski said.
Ogrodzinski said his country has "invited" Canada's ambassador in Warsaw to meet Polish officials on Monday to discuss the Dziekanski case and how it might unfold.
He also had praise for Paul Pritchard, the man who videotaped and later released the Taser video, calling him a "global citizen."
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- An Ontario judge was moved to tears while delivering a life prison sentence to a serial carjacker who killed a woman and injured five others after driving a stolen van into her car during a 2010 police chase. more »
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- The federal government is shutting the Canadian consulate in Buffalo less than two years after costly renovations, while dropping a requirement for visas to be renewed outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
Latest World News Headlines
- Canadian restrained on flight to Miami arrested
- A 24-year-old Canadian man is in federal custody for rushing toward the front of an American Airlines flight from Jamaica after the plane landed in Miami. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Suspect in Etan Patz death deemed a suicide risk
- The man accused of murdering six-year-old Etan Patz was hospitalized for fear he might attempt suicide, as investigators worked to corroborate the defendant's confession in one of New York City's most traumatic missing-child cases. more »
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday. more »
Dispatches »
- Foreign slaves serving the U.S. military machine May. 24, 2012 3:33 PM How does a hairdresser recruited for work in Dubai, wind up slaving for the U.S. military in a war zone in Iraq? There are tens of thousands serving in what's come to be known as America's "Invisible Army."
Connect Newsroom Blog
Etan Patz Arrest, Helene Campbell & Facebook Flop May. 24, 2012 8:54 PM Three decades after a U.S. child Etan Patz disappeared, an arrest has finally been made.
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Brave cat makes epic leap of faith
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
Ambassador Piotr Ogrodzinski says the Polish embassy in Ottawa has been flooded with e-mails and phone calls from Canadians expressing sympathy and outrage over what happened to Robert Dziekanski.
Before police arrived Robert Dziekanski picked up office furniture and began to place it in the doorway between the customs area and the public lounge. (Paul Pritchard)
