Video of Tasering Death

Fri, Nov 16, 2007 (No Ratings, Click to rate this article!) Loading ...

Grant Gochnauer dropped this in our inbox this morning; this it he private footage of the tasering death of a Russian citizen, Robert Dziekanski, by police recently that sparked a big controversy. If you watch the whole thing around, 6:40 is when the police show up and the interaction between then and Robert starts.

To be honest, given all the police knew at that point “There is some crazy Russian guy screaming” and how he looked (agitated/sweating) and how he reacted when they showed up (smashing a keyboard down and yelling), I can’t really blame them for wanting to subdue him.

It looked to me like they shocked him a second time because he was putting up a sufficient fight to them trying to get cuffs on him, but that’s more of a judgement call if they needed it or not… I am not sure, I’m not trained with taser use.

Share This on Your Favorite Social Network:

airport, controversy, law, police

This post was written by:

Riyad Kalla - who has written 1637 posts on The “Break it Down” Blog.

"Ultimately I just want to provide a resource that folks find useful."

2 Comments For This Post

Preston Lee Says:
November 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am

I’m not up to speed on Taser Best Practices, but he did seem to be giving them a huge hassle. Seems like the police took reasonable action.. :/

Riyad Kalla Says:
November 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Preston, that’s what I thought… I considered the same behavior in any other setting (at a stadium, in a mall, at a movie theater, on the street, etc.) and I think the police would have acted the same.

I was discussing the issue recently with someone who saw the video as well and thought it was “horrific” how they treated him… and then I sort of saw the connundrum the police are in… if you have a police officer walk in there, all gentle, and try and talk the guy down.. 9 times out of 10 that would be great, but what about the 1 time the person does something horrible and stabs the office or hurts someone?

Then everyone blasts the officer for not doing his job.

Then we see them being too rough, and get mad at that… I think what they did in response to Robert’s erradic behavior certainly wasn’t gentle… but it was reasonable, and I think fairly standard when trying to restrain someone.

I don’t know of tasing him twice was *necessary*… but like you said, I haven’t read through the “How to Taser the Shit Out of Someone” handbook… so I don’t know what is safe and what isn’t.

Preston Lee Says:
November 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
I’m not up to speed on Taser Best Practices, but he did seem to be giving them a huge hassle. Seems like the police took reasonable action.. :/
Riyad Kalla Says:
November 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Preston, that’s what I thought… I considered the same behavior in any other setting (at a stadium, in a mall, at a movie theater, on the street, etc.) and I think the police would have acted the same.

I was discussing the issue recently with someone who saw the video as well and thought it was “horrific” how they treated him… and then I sort of saw the connundrum the police are in… if you have a police officer walk in there, all gentle, and try and talk the guy down.. 9 times out of 10 that would be great, but what about the 1 time the person does something horrible and stabs the office or hurts someone?

Then everyone blasts the officer for not doing his job.

Then we see them being too rough, and get mad at that… I think what they did in response to Robert’s erradic behavior certainly wasn’t gentle… but it was reasonable, and I think fairly standard when trying to restrain someone.

I don’t know of tasing him twice was *necessary*… but like you said, I haven’t read through the “How to Taser the Shit Out of Someone” handbook… so I don’t know what is safe and what isn’t.

The “Break it Down” Blog