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RCMP Const. Bill Bentley had a "gut feeling" Robert Dziekanski was going to start a fight.
"He was standing there, just staring at us with his eyes wide open," Bentley, the second officer to testify at the inquiry into Dziekanski's death, told the Braidwood Commission yesterday.
The public now knows that within seconds, Dziekanski was jolted with an RCMP stun gun; he would be declared dead later that morning, Oct. 14, 2007.
"I'm sorry for her loss," Bentley said about Dziekanski's mother when prompted by his lawyer. "My heart goes out to her and her family."
But Zofia Cisowski, who was sitting metres away in court and has attended much of the proceedings, wasn't interested in apologies.
"He said sorry!" Cisowski said, leaving court yesterday. "Now, sorry? I don't accept any sorry.'"
Bentley said Dziekanski was jolted by a police Taser gun after the Polish immigrant grabbed a stapler. But Bentley's original version of events was different.
"Subject grabbed stapler and came at [officers] screaming," read his original notes, written within days of the Oct. 14, 2007 incident. That's not true, Bentley admitted today.
A widely shown video of the incident shows Dziekanski made no such move. Bentley said his memory was refreshed by watching the video and getting a good night's sleep. But Commission counsel Patrick McGowan wondered how much the video changed his recollection.
"If you didn't have video of this matter, would you be here today saying the subject grabbed a stapler and came at the [officers] screaming?" McGowan asked.
"I don't know," Bentley replied. The inquiry continues.