The RCMP officer who Tasered Robert Dziekanski was grilled and accused of a cover-up during a public inquiry yesterday.
The accusation stems from Const. Kwesi Millington’s own statement to investigators and his officer’s notes clashing with video of the incident.
In Millington’s original statement, he claimed Dziekanski was yelling as police approached, was waving a stapler around and had shocked him three times before the four officers could wrestle him to the ground.
Since reviewing the video, Millington now says Dziekanski was not yelling, was not waving the stapler and collapsed after just one jolt.
He has since re-evaluated his actions that day. “I would have reassessed the deployment after the second time,” Millington said. “I would change the assessment process since seeing the video yesterday.”
But he still believes he responded correctly.
“He was sweating, eyes were wide, breathing somewhat heavily, I got the impression he was agitated,” Millington said. “He was moving toward the other officers and I feared for their safety.”
But Walter Kosteckyj, Dziekanski’s mother’s lawyer, disagreed. “You didn’t assess, did you,” Kosteckyj said, adding the Mountie didn’t follow RCMP training.
Millington maintained he reacted appropriately.
“I acted within my training, but I never intended for those end results.”
