 Zophia Cisowski, mother of taser victim Robert Dziekanski, and her lawyer Walter Kosteckyj leave the Braidwood Inquiry in Vancouver, Thursday, May 15, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
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VANCOUVER — Robert Dziekanski’s mother has filed a lawsuit alleging excessive force and “cruel and unusual” treatment by the four RCMP officers who stunned her son with a Taser.
Zofia Cisowski is suing the four officers, the Canadian and British Columbia governments, and the Vancouver airport, where Dziekanski collapsed and died after being stunned by Mounties in October 2007.
The lawsuit alleges everyone involved failed Dziekanski in some way.
It alleges that the RCMP officers “assaulted” Dziekanski with the shock weapon.
“Mr. Dziekanski died as a result of injuries he sustained in the assault and physical restraint by the RCMP members,” says the statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday.
It claims the four RCMP officers had no reasonable grounds to detain Dziekanski or stun him multiple times with a Taser after being summoned to the airport to deal with an agitated Dzieksanki on Oct. 14, 2007.
Cisowksi’s lawsuit also alleges that RCMP failed to notify of her son’s death - that was left to an airport employee when she returned to the airport to find him - and then “knowingly misrepresented her son’s conduct and the cause of his death.”
In the statement of claim, she says she it wasn’t until she saw a witness’ video of the confrontation her son had with the four RCMP officers that she realized how he had died. Cisowski says she saw the video prior to it being released to the media.
“The experience of witnessing the assault on her son by the RCMP members, and of witnessing her son’s emotional distress, pain and physical injury was horrifying, shocking and frightening,” says the lawsuit.
“Ms. Cisowski was exposed to these images repeatedly, as the (video) was broadcast repeatedly in the media in connection with a public outcry over the RCMP handling of the matter.”
And Cisowski says Mounties failed to conduct a meaningful investigation into the circumstances of her son’s death.
As a result of all this, “Ms. Cisowski suffered an extreme psychological shock that has resulted in a recognizable psychiatric illness or psychological harm,” says the statement of claim.
The lawsuit alleges the airport and federal border officers also failed Dziekanski, by not providing translation services or adequately helping Dziekanski, either when he was making his way through customs or after he began throwing furniture in a public area.
These officials also failed to provide Cisowski any “meaningful” assistance, and she left the airport while her son was still waiting inside the customs area.
The lawsuit says Cisowksi has suffered injury in part because of “the knowledge that she could have prevented her son’s death had she not left the airport in reliance on statements by employees and officers of the (Vancouver Airport Authority) and the (Canada Border Services Agency.”
The lawsuit contains allegations that haven’t been tested in court. No statement of defence has been filed, and a Justice Department spokeswoman says the federal government hasn’t been served.
A public inquiry is underway into Dziekanski’s death. The inquiry commissioner is currently hearing final submissions from the many agencies involved with Dziekanski in his final hours.
