By Allan Dowd
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The Royal CanadianMounted Police dismissed a report on Thursday that it may havecompromised investigations into the death of a Polish immigrantduring a stun gun incident at Vancouver's airport.
The head of the RCMP privately contacted the four officersinvolved in the incident, a move that critics said may haveconflicted with a promise to co-operate with investigationsinto the death, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.
The report cited internal RCMP e-mails, which the CBC saidshowed the police struggled with how to respond to the wave ofnegative international publicity they received over the deathof Robert Dziekanski in October.
Dziekanski died after police shot him with a Taser stun gunand restrained him at Vancouver airport. The incident wascaught on video by another passenger and broadcast around theworld.
The Mounties said on Thursday they were still committed tofully co-operating with all of the investigations into theincident, which raised public concern over the police use ofTaser stun guns.
"To suggest that there is something improper about theexpression of sympathy and support for all of the individualsinvolved in this tragic event, including the RCMP's support forour employees, is wrong," the Mounties said in a statement toReuters.
The news report said the e-mails did not detail what RCMPCommissioner William Elliott told the officers when hecontacted them a month after the incident, and the policestatement to Reuters on Thursday did not elaborate on theconversations.
Dziekanski, 40, who was moving to Canada to join hismother, mistakenly waited for her in the baggage area ratherthan passing through customs to the main part of the airport.
After several hours, he was confronted by police who hadbeen called to the baggage area by reports of an agitated manwho was throwing objects.
The cause of his death has not been determined, but he diedafter police shot him with a Taser stun gun, which disables itsvictims with 50,000 volts of electricity.
A video of Dziekanski writhing and screaming on the airportfloor was widely broadcast on television and shown on theInternet, drawing sharp public criticism of the police action.
Critics of the stun guns say the incident raises unansweredsafety questions about the weapon, but Taser International Inc,accuses them of fear-mongering and says there is no scientificevidence the device can be fatal.
Officials from the Braidwood Inquiry, appointed by BritishColumbia to investigate the incident and Taser use, declinedcomment on Thursday on the RCMP e-mails. The report on policeuse of Tasers is expected by the end of November.
(Reporting Allan Dowd, editing by Rob Wilson)
