VICTORIA -- Paul Pritchard was heading home to Victoria in an emergency to help his ailing father when he was confronted by another real-life emergency at Vancouver airport that changed his life.
The 25-year-old teacher arrived on a flight from China and stumbled into a deadly drama, recording with his video camera the final moments of a Polish immigrant who died after being shot by an RCMP Taser stun gun.
Pritchard said the video has helped him realize it's time to get serious about his future.
Pritchard's video of events leading up to the death of Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14 raced around the world on the Internet and on TV broadcasts after it was released Wednesday.
The Mounties themselves called it the single best record they have of what happened early that Sunday morning in a near-empty international arrivals area, though investigators insist it doesn't tell the whole story.
Still, the emotional public reaction to the video and the furious political debate surrounding the use of Tasers convinces Pritchard changes are afoot when it comes to the current use of weapons by police.
"Something good is going to come out of it," Pritchard said. "For me, to have a part in changing something at a national level is huge. This is definitely... changing my life."
Pritchard's father John, who has a terminal illness, said he's proud of how his son handled the battle to regain control of the video from police and the intense spotlight he's been under for a month as a result.
"He's always had a sense of fairness and loyalty about being bullied," John Pritchard said. "He would never back down, like in school. He would never back down to older boys who wanted to push him around."
Pritchard leaped to prominence soon after the Taser incident when he went public with complaints the RCMP had reneged on a promise to return the video recording, which he handed over voluntarily, within 48 hours. Police gave it back after he threatened legal action.
The recording was made public Wednesday and the major Canadian TV networks paid Pritchard a small fee for its use. The Canadian Press was also given a copy and posted it for use by its online news clients but did not pay a fee.
Pritchard was whisked to New York on Thursday to tape appearances on U.S. network television.
"I woke up this morning and did a couple of phone interviews and all of a sudden I'm flying to New York," he said Thursday.
Pritchard said he's considering becoming a reporter now after spending the last two years travelling and teaching English in China.
"I'm looking into a journalism route now," he said. "I've got to see the whole media side of things and it's kind of sparked an interest in me."
-- The Canadian Press
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