A While it remains unclear what caused Robert Dziekanski’s death in October, there’s no disputing that the Polish immigrant was tasered several times by Canadian police at Vancouver International Airport.
Video of the fatal incident was widely
broadcast and is available online eg at YouTube.
Canada.com reports on a recent YouTube video which parodies the incident using an early version of the Mega Man video game series.
Mega Man vs. Polish immigrant shows Mega Man
confronting Dziekanski in the airport. Mega Man is offered three choices of action, including “Use restraint,” “Call a translator,” or “Tazer mercilessly.”
The creator of the parody, Vancouver resident Mike Greenway, said: The video was really
more of a statement on police Taser use than anything. The video that I made is a tongue-in-cheek parody about the incompetence of everyone involved, not police brutality.
Aga Magdolen, a spokeswoman with the Canadian Polish Congress, found
the YouTube video offensive: This tragedy should not have been portrayed as a game. It is disrespectful to the victim, his family and the Polish community.
RCMP Staff Sgt. John Ward was also offended: Any right-thinking person who would
look at the video would be offended by that. A gentlemen lost his life and it is in extremely poor taste.
However, Marta Grywalska, a spokeswoman for Polish Ambassador Piotr Ogrodzinski, seemed less condemnatory: The public was disturbed
by the event. This is how the subculture reacted to it.
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