Judicial Interpretation

"They don't have the exact same stories -- I've compared them. In context, they sound like four stories told by four people who saw the same thing. There are some differences."
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan

A resolution of sorts. To an unfortunate incident that took place almost five years ago when four RCMP constables responded to calls about a disturbance taking place at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. A young Polish man had travelled from the country of his birth to Canada to live with his mother who had sponsored him as a landed immigrant. Robert Dziekanski spoke no English. His mother who had gone to the airport to meet him, had been unable to discover where he was, whether he had arrived.

Mr. Dziekanski waited in an airport lounge for ten hours, becoming increasingly restive and annoyed to the point of panic-induced aggression. He was unable to communicate with anyone, and no one seemed to take notice of his presence, to offer some kind of useful assistance. He began to act out in a troubled manner, throwing lounge furniture about, and the RCMP were called in.

The four officers were incapable of communicating verbally, but what they witnessed was a man so frustrated and fearful he was out of control. They had no idea what his problem was, and meant to stem his physical actions. He was a large, burly man, and they struggled with him, and he resisted with physical force responding to physical force. And then they tasered him repeatedly. And he died as a result of undue pressure on his chest and reaction to the tasering.

Public outrage was immediate; inappropriate use of force, an unforgivable lapse in judgement resulting in the death of an innocent young man. His mother was inconsolable, and the public responded to her grief, demanding justice for Robert Dziekanski. The four RCMP officers were charged by the Crown, and found wanting; accused of lying during testimony at the public enquiry.

Constable Bill Bentley was charged with perjury in 2011 along with Constables Kwesi Millington, Gerry Rundell and former Corporal Benjamin Robinson. During Constable Bentley's trial the Crown called on airport witnesses while prosecutors compared the police officers' notes and statements; alleging all four colluded on their stories to investigators then lied at the enquiry.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwen found no evidence the officers had concocted a story. While the Crown stated their case against Bill Bentley, Judge McEwen interrupted on several occasions to state his doubts respecting Crown's theory. Civilian witnesses, he noted, had made similar mistakes to that of the Mounties.

For a conviction, stated Justice McEwen, the Crown must prove that false statements were knowingly and deliberately made. As they failed to do just that, RCMP Constable Bill Bentley was found not guilty of perjury. The sad story of a Polish immigrant to Canada finding death rather than a new life in the country has concluded with the exoneration of charges of perjury against at least one of the responding officers.

Nothing will return Robert Dziekanski to life, but perhaps the four RCMP constables who had been involved in the misfortune that met him will now be able to resume their lives with dignity and assurance and the regret that they will bear for the rest of their lives.