Dziekanski concerns rebuffed: witness

A woman worried about Robert Dziekanski a few hours before he was shocked by an RCMP Taser and died says an immigration officer at Vancouver's airport deflected her concerns about the man.

Gracie Churchill-Browne, a Spanish interpreter, told a public inquiry into his death Wednesday that Dziekanski looked "tired and frustrated" and clearly couldn't speak English, but the officer she spoke to told her "he's a big boy."

Browne said she saw Dziekanski in a waiting area talking to a few immigrations officers and twice suggested the officers get a Polish interpreter. She didn't know that another immigration officer did try to find an interpreter.

The inquiry at a downtown Vancouver courtroom also heard that a baggage carrier told police a few months after the incident that Dziekanski looked like a "wack job" in the airport that day in October 2007.

RCMP were summoned by airport staff after an agitated Dziekanski began throwing furniture in the international arrivals area.

The inquiry is expected to hear from its final witness beginning Thursday, and is scheduled to hear closing submissions beginning in early October.