Talking about excessive force...Four fully armed, strong RCMP officers chose to taze a non-violent man whose only problem seems to be his inability to speak English. I watched the entire video tape on youtube.com and I invite you to do so as well. What the video displays is an embarrassment to our culture. We pride ourselves on being the polite, reasonable nation compared to the rather savage and authoritarian state south of us. The Romanian man who was murdered showed little aggression if at all. He was clearly frustrated by the fact that no one is unable to understand him. During the entire process, he hadn't made any threatening movement towards spectators, except to once push a chair at the window to show his dissatisfaction. To be honest, I've probably done worse things while angry. There was a woman who approached him, trying to convince him to settle down. She gave the statement later that she was not afraid of him at any point of their encounter. Instead of trying to find a translator and negotiate with the man. The RCMP opted for direct physical confrontation by tazing the man not once, but several times. What could've ended peacefully eventually ended in the man's tragic death.
It's a shame that our national police force lacks better judgment. Tasers have become the new and abused lazy tool for RCMP officers. This new "come along" tool is great for officers like these four and dozen others who have shown a lack common scene or people skills when engaging a situation.
After some research, I've came up with RCMP Use of Force Model. Now you tell me where was the steps between Officer presence and Lethal Force. All I can see is the officers walking in, directed the man to walk away, and shot him.
1. Visualization
2. Officer Presence
3. Partnerships
4. Verbal Interaction
5. Empty Hand Control
6. Intermediate Devices
7. Pressure Points
8. Impact Weapons
9. Lethal Force
Here is a full video of what happened that day.
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