Here’s a video of the distraught non-English speaking man from Poland who died from being tasered at the Vancouver Airport. He can be seen throwing a chair and trying to break other things.
When security arrives, he calms down and doesn’t appear to be acting in a threatening manner. It’s hard to tell though, because the video was taken through a pane of glass with glare.
Be warned, the man writhes on the ground and screams for a long time before he dies. It’s disturbing.
From an October 26 post on Boing Boing:
Akezys says: “Recently police at the Vancouver airport were attempting to question a recent immigrant that could not speak English. They tasered him after 24 seconds of speaking with him. The man had spent 10 hours stuck in the airport with no-one helping him.”
Update:
In the comments section, Kyle Armbruster has an excellent explanation about why it’s important to make this video available:
Okay, folks:
A “snuff film” is a kind of pornographic film where you are watching someone die because you get off on it. No one here is getting off on it. In fact, the “not getting off on it”-ness is actually what the whole thread is about. This is a primary news source. If you don’t want to watch it, fine. But…
As for people’s feelings that they got nothing new out of watching the beheading videos (I’ve seen several) or the Hussein video (saw it) or this (haven’t seen it yet–at work), although I cannot, of course, speak for them personally, I kind of doubt it.
I’ll go further. I think it’s extremely important to view things like this. We’re so used to TV violence, movie violence, and video game violence–so used to the abstract concept of death, even violent death–that we have a tendency to become nonchalant, cavalier about it. Looking these things in the face demystifies them. It’s not dramatic. It’s not moving. It just is.
It reminds us that we are fragile. It reminds us that if someone wants, it is quick and easy to end our lives. It reminds us that there are people who do this, for whatever reason. Maybe they’re just crazy assholes (beheading videos). Maybe they are paid and/or required to do it (Hussein, any videos from wartime). Maybe they do it because they are incompetent, dangerous assholes (this video). It reminds us how far we can go, and how far we mustn’t go, and how far we must do our best to not allow our public servants to go unless actually necessary.
I encourage you all to watch these things. It’s hard. You will wince. You might cry. You might feel sick to your stomach. But you will know, to the very fiber of your being, what the fuss is all about.