Justice after 7 yrs against cop

The RCMP officer who Tasered Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport more than seven years ago has been found guilty of perjury.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke concluded Friday that Const. Kwesi Millington lied under oath during his testimony at a public inquiry into the October 2007 death of the 40-year-old Polish immigrant.

In a lengthy ruling read out in court, the judge said Millington's testimony about his explanation for using a Taser on Dziekanski was "patently false" and "preposterous."

"I can say right now I am the happiest person all over the world," Zofia Cisowski, Dziekanski's mom, said outside court. "I am very pleased."

Ehrcke said Millington's testimony was false, he knew it was false and he gave it with intent to mislead.

The Crown presented in court 10 particulars of the alleged perjury, only one of which prosecutors needed to prove to find Millington guilty of the charge.

The judge concluded the accused was guilty of six of the 10 particulars, finding that Millington and the other three officers charged colluded with one another in their versions of events shortly after the death.

The collusion happened when the cops were together at the Richmond detachment prior to giving statements to investigators.

Ehrcke noted their accounts were strikingly similar, and found that Millington had an opportunity and an incentive to lie, wrongly portraying Dziekanski as being aggressive to justify Tasering him.

The judge found that Millington had lied when he said he believed Dziekanski was still standing when he deployed the Taser a second time, and when he said the Polish man was falling down during the first shot of the Taser.

Millington also misled the inquiry when he claimed the officers had to wrestle Dziekanski to the ground.

But the judge found that the Crown's allegation Millington and the three officers colluded with one another at a meeting just prior to the 2009 inquiry was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Criminal justice branch spokesman Neil MacKenzie said outside court that there had been other convictions of police officers perjuring themselves in Canada, including B.C., but could not provide specifics.

He declined to comment on the impact of the ruling on the perjury cases of the three other officers.

Millington, who will remain on bail until sentencing, had little reaction to the verdict. Ravi Hira, his lawyer, had no comment outside court.

The Millington case is expected back in court March 19 to fix a date for sentencing.

Const. Bill Bentley, one of the three other officers accused in the case, was last year acquitted of the charges, but the Crown is appealing that ruling.

Closing submissions began Friday in the case of Const. Gerry Rundel, and a verdict is expected Feb. 26 for Cpl. Benjamin "Monty" Robinson, a fourth officer.

Court heard that the four cops were summoned to the airport after receiving reports an intoxicated man was throwing around chairs in a lounge for passengers arriving on international flights.

Dziekanski had arrived in Vancouver after an 18-hour trip from Warsaw and was hoping to meet up with his mother, but his mom left in frustration when they didn't meet.

When the officers approached Dziekanski, Millington Tasered him once, causing him to fall to the ground, then fired the Taser four more times.

Rundel, Bentley and Robinson then struggled to put handcuffs on Dziekanski, succeeding despite some difficulties. But Dziekanski's condition rapidly deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

No criminal charges were laid against the officers in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but the B.C. government announced an inquiry into the case and appointed former judge Thomas Braidwood to oversee it.