A Richmond fire captain is sticking to his story that the Mounties who jolted Robert Dziekanski with a Taser at Vancouver airport weren't doing anything to help the Polish man when firefighters arrived.
On Tuesday at the Braidwood inquiry, Captain Kirby Graeme testified that when he arrived at Vancouver's airport in October 2007 minutes after Dziekanski was stunned by a Taser, four officers were standing several metres from Dziekanski.
Today, Graeme admitted he didn't know what the officers did before he got there, but he stood by his earlier criticism they were not acting professionally, and insisted the Mounties had not been monitoring Dziekanski at all.
He told the inquiry one Mountie even refused to remove Dziekanski's handcuffs so firefighters could assess him.
B.C. Ambulance arrived about 90 seconds later and took over the medical assessment from the firefighters.
But lawyers cross-examining Graeme Wednesday said he didn't know what the officers did before he got to the airport and they were not obstructing other emergency workers.
The lawyer acting for Const. Bill Bentley tried to make Graeme admit that his assessment of the RCMP was unfair but Graeme would now back down from his statements on Tuesday.
"I meant no disrespect to the officers," he said.
The inquiry is expected to run for at least four more weeks, after which Thomas Braidwood will write a report that will make recommendations and could also include findings of misconduct against the RCMP.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger and a file by The Canadian Press
