My brother is an RCMP member of the Surrey detachment so he's had a lot of action even though he's only been a cop for two years. I've talked to him about his opinions on the whole taser incident. He's seen the video and knows about the details of what happened. He admits that the use of a taser on Robert Dziekanski was a bit excessive for one guy but the man did have a stapler in his hand. That is viewed as a weapon and the cops had the right to use the taser. He said what killed the guy wasn't the taser, it was the fact that the taser made his heart beat very fast and then the cops subdued him. He was restrained while his heart was racing and that's what caused it to fail. My brother went through taser training (which means he has experienced the effects of the taser and he still has the marks to show for it) so he knows all about what tasers are capable of. He said it perfectly to me though "If I approach a man with something in his hands, I'm not going to try to get close to him, I'm going to use any means necessary to subdue him and go to my wife at the end of the night".
What people tend to forget is that cops are regular people who went to a boot camp for 6 months and came out with a lot of power and responsibility. It frustrates me that people think they're always in the right when a cop does something to them. It's just the typical "I don't like authority" sort of thing. Cops put their life on the line every single day to protect all of you. People call them down but when they're in trouble...they call the police. Two mounties were shot and killed up North but they didn't get nearly as much coverage as the crazed man at the airport. I should also remind people that in other airports there's security walking around with AK-47's and would shoot a man like that without hesitation. Robert Dziekanski should have understood that these people were trying to control the situation...but I guess when you're a person who has been charged with several break and enters, you don't trust police all that much.
I'm sorry if I'm rambling people, it just pisses me off to see threads like this. I'm glad people are signing that petition without knowing all the facts. Did you guys know that batons (the special ones they use these days) have killed way more people and when they were first introduced to the RCMP, the same situation occurred. In my opinion this whole taser thing has been blown way out of proportion by the media because they want their story for the people who are stupid enough to listen to them without question. Go ahead and sign the dumb petition, but it comforts me to know that my brother is walking the streets of Surrey with an extra weapon to protect him.
A good quote you should all remember: "Cops are given a split second to react and critics are allowed to tear apart that decision for years" Most people would crack under that pressure, so don't sit in front of your computers and think you know everything because you watch the headlines on the news.
