Monday, November 19, 2007

Making A Decision On A Sound Bite Is Ludicrous

What the video doesn't tell us

Lorne Gunter
National Post
Monday, November 19, 2007

Here are the things I didn't see watching Paul Pritchard's famous 10-minute video of Mounties Tasering Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport last month. I didn't see what Mr. Dziekanski did that apparently convinced immigration officers that they should abandon their office and leave him alone inside, pacing frantically back and forth in front of the windows looking on to the international arrivals lounge. I didn't see anything he did during his more than six hours on hold before the police were called in. I didn't hear what immigration officials and airport security told police by phone or radio when they called for help.

In other words, what I don't know about the deadly Tasering is almost everything I need to know to pass judgment on whether the four RCMP officers acted appropriately.

The video gives me too little context. And everyone who has made his or her mind up about the wrongness of the Mounties' actions based only on seeing the video on the news or YouTube lacks sufficient context, too.

This is especially true for those who have seen only the three-minute version of the video that seems to be the most common on the Internet. Mr. Pritchard shot nearly 10 minutes, the best (and fullest) version of which is at http://youtube.com/ watch?v=Ftp7IQph0_o.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

why was there a deadly weapon the man was carrying somewhere we didn't see?

if you watched the 10 minute version you'd have to a fucking moron not to see clearly that the tasering was premature. The guy deserved to be dealt with, but didn't deserve to die.

Tasers should be used in place of a gun, not relied on to simply subdue someone who isn't showing a deadly threat. They have been shown to cause the death of someone numerous times and morons haven't quite picked up on that yet.

3:26 PM

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I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.

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