Just another police brutality. Some authority abuse their power and the sad fact they never get convicted.
When I saw the video I was really shocked.

-Jan
Self-Improvement Advice

Few knew slain Polish immigrant, but hundreds gather to celebrate his life
2 hours ago
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Few knew the Polish man who died last month at the Vancouver Airport after a confrontation with police, but hundreds packed a B.C. funeral home on Saturday to grieve with his mother and express their outrage over her loss.

For millions of people around the world, their only image of Robert Dziekanski is from a video of his last moments - a panic-stricken man barricading himself into the international arrivals hall before police shot him with a Taser gun.

But his mother wiped away her tears on Saturday to quietly narrate a slideshow of Dziekanski's photographs shown at the Kamloops, B.C. funeral home during the memorial celebration of the 40-year-old man's life.

"That's my brother, that's my uncle, that's us," Zofia Cisowski whispered to pictures of her son, a smiling, swarthy man, arms wrapped around family in his native Poland.

In his childhood pictures, he stares solemnly at the camera, his calm face a contrast to the frightened visage caught on a bystander's camera the night he died.

"It was a beautiful ceremony," Cisowski said afterwards.

"I hope that everyone will remember my son as a good loving boy, a good loving human being."

Family friend Jurek Baltakis celebrated Dziekanski's love for his family.

"He always remembered Zofia's birthday," he said in a eulogy.

"He sent nice postcards from every trip he went on."

One of those postcards contained a simple poem, reprinted on the back of a memorial card.

"People become good by doing good," it reads.

"It is rare that a person is good by nature alone. Goodness does not exist so one can make use of it."

A lack of goodness the night Dziekanski emerged from a secure area of the Vancouver airport, sweating profusely and seemingly attempting to ask for help before police were called to the scene, was in part what led to his death, said Father Nicholas Forde.

"Humanity has not, and I repeat the word has not, learned the simple business of communication," he said.

"Dealing with rules and regulations that very often have no basis in ordinary, common sense."

Dziekanski was cremated following a private funeral two weeks ago.

His mother hopes to take some of his ashes back to Poland and keep some of them in Kamloops, where she moved seven years ago.

A lover of geography, Dziekanski was laid to rest with two maps - one of Poland and one of British Columbia.

"I'm so sad and ashamed that we so badly let down a woman who embraced Canada with all her heart and whose dream was to share it with her son," said Trudy Dirk, who met Cisowksi in an English class.

At the Vancouver International Airport on Saturday, about 300 people showed up for a memorial service and candlelight vigil.

The service took place in the international arrivals area of the airport, where Dziekanski died.

The memorial was conducted in English and Polish, with many members of the Polish community in attendance.

Diem Job-Franke, who organized the service, told the crowd that the world needs to be more compassionate and caring to strangers.

Outside the airport, a vigil was set up with a photo of Dziekanski surrounded by candles and roses.

An investigation is underway into what caused Dziekanski's death and a coroner's inquest is planned.

Cisowksi's lawyer said Saturday he thinks the inquest will be held in May.

People were overwhelmed by the graphic video showing the events leading up to Dziekanski's death, Walter Kosteckyj said after the service.

"We can't lose sight of the fact that this story is so much more," he said.

"There are so many other questions as to what happened at the airport, what happened to Zofia, how she was treated, and what happened to him."

Worldwide condemnation of the use of the Taser followed the release of the bystander's video last week.

One mother, who knows too well the pain of losing a son after a Taser shot, rose to share Cisowski's grief on Saturday.

Ricki Bagnell's son Robert died in 2004 after being stunned twice with the gun.

"The deaths of our sons has become a focal point in an international anti-taser campaign," she said.

"People all over the world are taking note of the brutal side-effects of this supposedly less than lethal form of subjugation."

Four RCMP officers surrounded Dziekanski at the airport on Oct. 14, and shot him with the Taser within 30 seconds of encountering him.

The RCMP announced Saturday those officers have been reassigned to other duties pending the outcome of the investigations.

In a statement from RCMP Commissioner William Elliot, the force said it remains behind the use of the Taser but also agrees further research is needed into its impact on people suffering from a medical condition known as excited delirium.

Some have speculated that was Dziekanski's state when police encountered him, though the video shows he had calmed down markedly from the minutes before where he was throwing furniture at the glass wall in the airport.

Elliott also responded to the video, asking the public not to judge the police on the video alone.

"The RCMP recognizes the video images recently made public are disturbing for anyone who sees them," he said.

"This serious event deserves a comprehensive and complete examination and we are confident that the processes underway will provide the proper basis on which to make conclusions and to determine appropriate action. "

Also on Saturday, Gary Bass, RCMP deputy commissioner Pacific region, said in a statement he had invited Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an external and independent review of the investigation.