Coroner's inquest into airport Taser incident set for May

B.C.'s Coroners Service has scheduled aninquest for May 5-16, 2008 into the case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after he was stunned by an RCMP Taser at Vancouver International Airport.

Presiding coroner Owen Court and a five-person jury will publicly hear evidence from subpoenaed witnesses in order to determine the facts surrounding the death, according to a statement released Wednesday by the provincial government.

The jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances in the future, but not to lay blame for the death.

Dziekanski died while in the custody of the Richmond RCMP at the airport onOct. 14 after been stunned twice by RCMP officers with a Taser .

Currently there are at least six other investigations into the death of Dziekanski and the RCMP use of Tasers:

• Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has said his ministry will release the findings of a Canada Border Service Agency internal investigation by the end of the week.
• The B.C. government has announced a full public inquiry, but has not yet appointed a commissioner orannounced a timetable.
• The Public Complaints Commissioner for the RCMP, Paul Kennedy, has launched an investigation.
• The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, made up of officers from the RCMP and municipal police departments in Metro Vancouver, is conducting an investigation into the death.
• The RCMP has launched an internal review.
• The Vancouver International Airport Authority has launched an internal review.