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Setting the taser record straight
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November 14, 2007
Paul Pritchard, an eyewitness to the police tasering of a man at Vancouver International Airport, says his video recording of the incident will set the record straight. Pritchard is making public his video this afternoon. It captures police subduing Robert Dziekanski with a taser, handcuffing him on the ground and putting the weight of their bodies on the downed man, who died.
Two of SFU’s top criminologists on the use of police force and sentencing matters, Neil Boyd and Dave MacAlister, have limited availability today to comment on the video. Both are open to viewing the video and offering cautious comment (as Dziekanski’s death and the tasering are the subject of various investigations).
Boyd notes: “What you see on the video only offers you a slice of life, not the complete context of the incident. We also don’t know what may have been selectively shot.” Boyd and MacAlister can talk about the history of police tasering and police principles governing its use. They can also comment on whether tasers are being used as an alternative to lethal force.
Neil Boyd, 1.604.947.9569, neil_boyd@sfu.ca (more accessible by email)
Dave MacAlister, 778.230.7296 (cell), dmacalis@sfu.ca (available after 3:30 p.m. by phone/email Nov. 14; available 9 a.m. to noon and after 1:30 p.m. Nov. 16)
Two of SFU’s top criminologists on the use of police force and sentencing matters, Neil Boyd and Dave MacAlister, have limited availability today to comment on the video. Both are open to viewing the video and offering cautious comment (as Dziekanski’s death and the tasering are the subject of various investigations).
Boyd notes: “What you see on the video only offers you a slice of life, not the complete context of the incident. We also don’t know what may have been selectively shot.” Boyd and MacAlister can talk about the history of police tasering and police principles governing its use. They can also comment on whether tasers are being used as an alternative to lethal force.
Neil Boyd, 1.604.947.9569, neil_boyd@sfu.ca (more accessible by email)
Dave MacAlister, 778.230.7296 (cell), dmacalis@sfu.ca (available after 3:30 p.m. by phone/email Nov. 14; available 9 a.m. to noon and after 1:30 p.m. Nov. 16)