Investigators should never have released key details on how many times Robert Dziekanski was shocked with an RCMP Taser so soon after the Polish immigrant's death, the officer in charge of the investigation said yesterday.

Supt. Wayne Rideout told the inquiry into Dziekanski's October 2007 death yesterday that police incorrectly told media that a Taser weapon was fired only twice.

The truth, which didn't emerge until more than a year later, was that he was hit up to five times. Rideout said the information should have been kept private to protect the integrity of the investigation.

The senior officer, then in charge of the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said his squad was "between a rock and a hard place," in investigating the actions of other police officers.

"It's extremely difficult as the investigating body, to speak about the events without appearing to be biased," Rideout said.

Yet IHIT did exactly that weeks later, issuing a press release seeking to contradict a perception that police never gave Dziekanski first aid as he lay on the ground in distress.

Lawyer Don Rosenbloom, acting for the Government of Poland, suggested the news release was intended to spin the situation in a positive light, an accusation the Mountie denied.

A firefighter who responded to the incident has testified he didn't see officers help Dziekanski "in any way."

The inquiry continues.

Irwin Loy reports for Vancouver's 24 hours.