VANCOUVER - A public inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death revealed new evidence and the investigation into the actions of the four RCMP officers involved should be reopened, says a special prosecutor appointed following a damning report from the inquiry.
The province named Richard Peck as special prosecutor after the report released earlier this month concluded the four officers used too much force when they stunned Dziekanski with a Taser at Vancouver's airport, and then misled investigators looking into his death.
The province's Criminal Justice Branch decided in December 2008 not to charge the officers, saying their use of force was reasonable in the circumstances.
But Peck said the inquiry unearthed new evidence and he recommended the decision not to lay charges should be revisited, the province's Criminal Justice Branch announced Tuesday.
In particular, a statement from the branch mentions evidence "including but not limited to expert video analysis and expert opinions relating to the reasonableness of the escalation and de-escalation of force."
Peck will now examine the report from commissioner Thomas Braidwood as he determines whether to recommend charges.
He'll also look at the officers' statements to investigators after Dziekanski's death and their testimony at the inquiry to determine whether they may have broken the law.
The officers were called to the airport after Dziekanski started throwing furniture in the international terminal on Oct. 14, 2007.
Within seconds of arriving, one of the Mounties stunned Dziekanski multiple times with a Taser. Within minutes, the would-be Polish immigrant lay dead on the airport floor.
Braidwood's 470-page report said the officers approached the scene as if they were responding to a "barroom brawl" and failed to reassess the situation when it became clear they were dealing with a distraught traveller who didn't speak English, rather than the drunk, violent man they'd anticipated.
The officers testified at the inquiry that Dziekanski posed a threat when he picked up a stapler, but Braidwood said the officers couldn't have reasonably believed Dziekanski was a threat to anyone and called their explanations "patently unbelievable."
An amateur video of the confrontation that appeared to contradict the RCMP's claims surfaced in the weeks following his death, prompting public outrage.
Within hours of the release of Dziekanski's report, the province's attorney general announced the special prosecutor.
Robin Baird, a spokesman for the Criminal Justice Branch, said Peck will review all the evidence available to him, including the initial report from homicide investigators, the video of Dziekanski's death and transcripts from the inquiry, even though the officers' testimony cannot be used against them at a trial.
"He'll reassess that initial decision from the ground up, including all the evidence, old and new," Baird said in an interview. "He's got a lot of stuff to go through."
Three of the officers have been transferred out of province and are on administrative duties, while the one who remains in the province was suspended with pay pending his trial on an obstruction of justice charge in relation to a fatal car accident.
