Verdict imminent in Dziekanski taser perjury trial

One of the four Mounties accused of lying during testimony at a public inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski will learn his fate Monday.

Constable Bill Bentley’s trial last month was the first of four perjury cases against the officers who confronted Mr. Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport in October, 2007, stunning him several times with a taser. He died on the floor of the terminal.

Constables Bentley, Kwesi Millington and Gerry Rundell, and former corporal Benjamin (Monty) Robinson found a distraught Mr. Dziekanski throwing furniture in the arrivals terminal. Mr. Dziekanski had been inside the terminal for 10 hours and was unable to communicate because he didn’t speak English.

Constable Bentley’s legal troubles began when he tried to explain during the 2009 Braidwood Inquiry the differences between what could be seen on amateur video and what he initially told homicide investigators.

The constable told investigators and wrote in his notes that the Polish immigrant grabbed a stapler and came at the officers screaming, was stunned and wrestled to the ground.

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B.C. police Taser use down 87% since Dziekanski death

Taser use by police in B.C. is down 87 per cent since Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver's airport five years ago, prompting questions Tuesday from politicians wondering what police are doing now to control out-of-control people.

B.C. police officers used their Tasers 640 times in 2007, compared to 85 deployments last year, assistant deputy justice minister Clayton Pecknold told an all-party committee assessing the status of recommendations to tighten provincial Taser policy since Dziekanski's October 2007 death.

The figures had Liberal MLA John Slater wondering what police have been doing instead to subdue people who are potentially dangerous.

"How many of them have been shot by police?" said Slater. "What has happened in the last five years?"

Gabi Hoffmann, program manager for the police services division in the justice ministry, said police shootings have not increased since Dziekanski's death and the 2009 public inquiry and recommendations of former judge Thomas Braidwood, but she did not provide data.

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