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Then three RCMP officers attended the autopsy, something unheard of. If they were present to intimidate the pathologist, they perhaps succeeded, as he failed to note significant bruising on Mr. Bush's thigh, consistent with a knee to the groin.
Constable Paul Koester claimed self-defense, when he finally did talk. For weeks he refused to say a word, and when investigators eventually went to his home to question him, his mother told them to go away. They did. Perhaps they feared for their safety.
Const. Koester was the only witness. Inside the detachment where Mr. Bush died, there was no camera. Or it was broken. Or the tape disappeared. Whatever. Const. Koester claims he was attacked (if so was it because he kneed Mr. Bush in the groin?) He claimed he shot Mr. Bush in a manner the family's forensic expert claimed to be impossible. He also claimed that blood spatter on the scene was inconsistent with the RCMP version. In any case the promising life of an innocent young man was ended over a bottle of beer. Mr. Aleksich should consider himself lucky to have avoided death over a tomato, in which case no doubt reasons would have been found to justify it.
Accountability
Ongoing concern about the RCMP misuse of Tasers led to a recent investigation by Police Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy, who stated unequivocally that the instrument was being used in 'highly inappropriate' circumstances. In other words the Taser is being used as a 'bully tool'. An instrument of torture, often used many times in succession. They've unapologetically Tasered young children, and a delirious old man (82) a heart patient in a hospital bed. Several Canadians have died after being Tasered, but the Mounties claim coincidence. They have still not implemented many of Mr. Kennedy's recommendations, which they received with thinly disguised contempt. Statistics prove that Mountie use of force increases according to the number of 'members' present-the more Mounties, the more violence. They try to impress each other.
Compassion.
And then there is the case of Robert Dziekanski, who arrived at VancouverInternationalAirport after a long flight from Poland. Speaking only Polish, the tired traveler was left to wander inside a secure area at YVR for about ten hours, while his mother frantically tried to make contact. Told that her son was not in the building, she finally went home to Kamloops. Just how Mr. Dziekanski could have been abandoned and ignored in this way at a major airport has not so far been explained.
Finally police were called when Mr. Dziekanski became visibly agitated. Four Mounties showed up, perhaps already pissed off that a meal had been interrupted, and in spite of the language barrier and Mr. Dziekanski's clear efforts to follow police orders (he said he was glad to see them) and approach a nearby counter, within less than a minute of the arrival of the RCMP they began Tasering him, and did so five times, even as he lay writhing in agony on the ground. Even as he began foaming at the mouth. Then they handcuffed him, and studiously ignored him as he died, even though all were trained in CPR and could possibly easily have saved him. Mr. Dziekanski's last word was 'Why?' When members of the Richmond fire department arrived, they were hampered in their efforts to assist by the Mounties' refusal to remove the handcuffs. The fire chief called their behavior 'unprofessional'. But Mr. Dziekanski was likely already dead.
Then the lies began. The attending police all denied cooking up a version of events, but their stories all matched. Mr. Dziekanski was drunk. He was crazy. A raving lunatic. A dangerous criminal. He lurched at them with a weapon (he defensively held a stapler in a non-threatening manner). They were soooo scared, but they only Tasered him twice. The public was told that only three members attended, and that everything was done to assist the victim. When contradicted by a cell phone video recording of the events taken by a witness, the police first tried to steal the memory stick, then urged the public not to believe its own eyes when the recording was shown on television.
Honesty.
Then, while no translator could be found for Mr. Dziekanski, two English/Polish translators accompanied three Mounties to the victim's small town in Poland with the clear intention of digging up some dirt, with which to smear Mr. Dziekanski post mortem. They came up empty, and witnesses complained of the crude tactics and bully behavior of the RCMP. At the ensuing Public Inquiry a phone link was established to some of the same Polish people, one of whom threatened to hang up on the RCMP lawyer if he didn't stop slandering the victim.
Respect.
Since the tragedy at YVR, one of the officers in attendance has been charged with drunk driving after striking and killing a young motorcyclist. In typical fashion he left the scene of the accident (perhaps even as the young man lay dying) and then returned, thus enabling a cynical and cowardly defense that he only drank after the accident. We'll see if that one flies. Probably.
Accountability.
The RCMP seems to have opted more and more toward a militarized American style of policing, cowboy Mounties who like to shoot first and evade questions later, who regard civilians as virtual enemies, who view any questioning of their authority as an attack. With the same corrupt system forever in place of the RCMP investigating itself, there is no real accountability or integrity, as reflected in the current widespread justified disrespect by a public that is becoming less and less tolerant of RCMP arrogant wrongdoing.
Come back Eduardo, we need you. You could make the force look so bad that change would be inevitable. You could be a hero.
