VANCOUVER – An email from the RCMP's top officer in B.C. asserting that the four members involved in the Vancouver airport incident with Robert Dziekanski planned to use the Taser even before arriving at the scene has caused a halt to the inquiry into the death of the Polish immigrant.
Commission chair Thomas Braidwood called the disclosure of the email "appalling" and "highly relevant."
He ordered this morning the public inquiry be shut down until September for more evidence to be presented.
Chief Superintendent Dick Bent of E Division wrote an email Nov. 5, 2007, three weeks after Dziekanski's death, that said the four officers had discussed using the weapon while en route to the airport after the initial 911 call was reported.
Dziekanski, 40, was left wandering for hours by himself in the international arrivals wing of the Vancouver airport after he could not locate his mother. Ten hours after getting little help and assistance, he began picking up chairs in the lounge and throwing furniture on the ground. A 911 call to Richmond RCMP brought four officers to the airport and within 30 seconds of their arrival, Dziekanski was shot five times.
Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said the email was only received on June 16 and said the correspondence is significant because the four officers testified under oath that they had no discussions with each other and did not develop a plan of action.
"The email appears to tell you a significantly different story," said Vertlieb and recommended the final submissions be delayed while the officers return to the stand to testify again before commission chair Thomas Braidwood.
Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts broke down in tears as she explained that the email was overlooked.
"I would like to apologize to you, the commission counsel and to sincerely apologize on behalf of the government of Canada," said Roberts as she choked back tears.
Roberts said however that it appears that the email from the RCMP's top officer was a misunderstanding.
"It's entirely possible he misunderstood what was sent to him," said Roberts.
The email was sent from the chief superintendent to deputy commissioner Al MacIntyre and given to the federal government lawyers in April but not found until earlier this week.
"The members did not articulate that they did not see the symptoms of excited delirium," wrote Bent. "But had discussed the response en route that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW."
All four officers insisted that no one discussed during the few minutes drive from the detachment to the airport what action to take after the 911 call of a distraught man in the international arrivals lounge.
Lawyers for the four officers said they had talked to their clients after learning of the email earlier this week and all the four members stand by their testimony
"Chief Superintendent Bent must be mistaken about the conversation that occurred," said Ravi Hira, the lawyer representing Constable Kwesi Millington, the officer who fired the Taser. "What is happening here is that reputations are being damaged."
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