Taser inquiry lawyers concerned by RCMP email

Lawyers participating in the public inquiry into a death at Vancouver International Airport in 2007 are questioning the credibility of the RCMP officers involved in the incident.

The death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in 2007 has drawn considerable media attention. The CBC reports that lawyers involved in the case are raising new questions about the credibility of the RCMP officers involved. Dziekanski's death occurred after he was Tasered when four RCMP officers were attempting to subdue him. The exact cause of his death has not been confirmed. The RCMP officers have testified they never had contact with each other after being transferred to separate duties. CBC News have a RCMP email, which two of the lawyers suggests differently. Cpl. Monty Robinson, one of the officers involved, was asked by Don Rosenbloom, a lawyer for the government of Poland. "It's your testimony that you have never had conversations with these officers regarding the incident," Robinson was asked by the laywer. "No," Robinson said. However, in an email from August 2008, some months prior to the officer's testimony at the inquiry, RCMP Supt. Mike Aubry asked staff relations representative Mike Ingles if the officers had any "issues" with appearing at the inquiry. Ingles replied he had spoken to someone and that "he will be discussing it with the others." The name of the person he spoke to has been blanked in the copy of the email given to the CBC The officers insist no such conversations occurred. B.C. Civil Liberties Association president Rob Holmes said. "If it is the case they have in fact engaged in those kinds of liaisons and communications either directly or indirectly, that would raise serious concerns about their credibility, not just on this one point but generally." Ingles, in the same email, makes reference to the four officers under investigation as "the guys." "'The guys' would suggest they think of it as family and thinking of it as family while at the same time they are supposedly investigating whether their officers may have misconducted themselves, that surprises me," Rosenbloom said Walter Kosteckyj is the lawyer Robert Dziekanski's mother. Kosteckyj is troubled by the apparent discrepancy. He intends to bring the issue up when the inquiry resumes Sept. 22.