What is the world saying about the many deaths in Canada after being stunned by a Taser?

BBC calls the brutal police killing of an immigrant in Vancouver an “Airport mix-up”.

If you’ve seen the video, I don’t think you’d call it a “mix up”.

… Airport mix-up

…

Mr Dziekanski, a construction worker, was emigrating to Canada to join his mother, who lived in the western province of British Columbia.

Mr Dziekanski, who had not flown before, had boarded a plane a day earlier in Germany, and arranged to meet his mother at the baggage carousel in the international terminal.

Neither of them knew the baggage carousel was inside a secure area, with no view of the public arrivals hall area, except for a short distance through sliding glass doors.

Mr Dziekanski’s mother waited for him for five hours in the airport’s public arrivals area but eventually went home after a call to an immigration official, who told her partner that no person fitting her son’s description was in the immigration area.

After spending 10 hours in the secure part of the international arrivals area Mr Dziekanski apparently panicked when he finally emerged into the public area and could not find his mother.

Police were called when he began throwing furniture and shouting.

He died shortly after being stunned at least twice with a Taser, seconds after police arrived.

A debate about the use of Tasers – promoted as a non-lethal alternative to guns – is ongoing in Canada after a series of incidents, including the death of an inmate at a Nova Scotia prison last week.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Canada in pledge over Taser death

Initially I was sympathetic of law enforcement, suspicious of a passenger freaking out in a public space.

A taser seemed a smart and humane way of taking down a dangerous suspect.

But the video shows the Police over-reacted badly. They are guilty of killing this guy when there was no need. He had no weapon. No others were at risk.

A Full Public Inquiry had been announced, finally.

I wonder if this death would have been covered-up and buried if not for a passenger with a camcorder and YouTube.

More information, links and over 1000 comments are posted on the YouTube video.