Sometimes the news has a way of reminding us of our own personal bias to current events. So I was surprised by how having been raised in Brazil and having family there has effected my reaction to the fatal shooting of the Brazilian electrician at Stockwell tube station.
Anyway, here is a good article on the shooting by Tim Harnes in the Times.
Here's a quote that I found myself agreeing with:
'There are, furthermore, “no excuses”, it is intoned, for the fact that he ran when armed plainclothed police officers shouted at him.
I don’t know about you, but if I found myself minding my own business on the São Paulo metro and was suddenly confronted by men wearing no uniforms but wielding weapons, screaming at me in Portuguese, I too might choose to bolt for it. It was not merely the police but their victim who had to make a split-second decision.'
3 comments:
It may well be that the guy's Brazilian background is the mystery factor that caused him to bolt for it, but how on earth are the police supposed to figure that into their calculations??
I have seen so much bullshit written about this already (not you, Andy!). One thing seems absolutely crystal clear to me: if the police have reasonable grounds for suspecting someone of being a suicide bomber with explosives on his person, they should shoot him multiply through the head the nanosecond a sniper has him lined up in his sights. No warnings either, what's the frigging point if the guy might have his finger on a trigger?
Already people are shouting "police state", "shoot to kill Muslims policy" and other crap. There is only one crucial question to be asked here - did the police, or did they not, have reasonable grounds for suspecting this guy of being a tooled-up suicide bomber?
If no, whoever gave the order to kill (*NOT* the guy who did it) should be hauled up before the beak.
If yes, there should still be an inquiry - into why they shouted any warning at all, why he wasn't dropped by a sniper the moment he stepped out of the door, and why they let him run all the way into a tube.
And anyone who thinks this incident means we are living in a police state should be immediately deported to one to further their political education.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1710202,00.html
Met boss reveals gun death threat
Times
27/07/05
SIR IAN BLAIR, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has revealed that armed officers have come close to shooting suspected terrorists dead on seven occasions since the July 7 bombings in London. He told Jon Snow of Channel 4 News last night that he could not guarantee that another innocent man would not be shot because officers have had to assess whether a suspect is a suicide bomber on 250 occasions in the past 20 days.
Sir Ian said: “I know that there have been 250 incidents since July 7 where we have considered whether we are seeing a suicide bomber. I know . . . there have been seven times when we have got as close to calling it as that. And we haven’t. This is professional judgement.
...
Senior Metropolitan police sources clarified Sir Ian’s comments as meaning that officers have come close to being ordered to shoot a suspect dead on seven separate occasions. His comments will dismay human rights organisations and Muslim groups angered by the shoot-to-kill policy.
Two points here:
1. It may be that the expiry of Menezes' visa is the reason he took off when challenged by police
2. It will be interesting to keep an eye on this Taser incident. One obvious possibility is that police (dangerously) used a Taser instead of a gun because of the Menezes fall-out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4726485.stm
BBC NEWS
Taser arrests 'incredible risk'
29/07/05
Using a stun gun on a suspected suicide bomber was an "incredible risk", Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said. Police said a Taser device was used during the arrest of the 21 July failed Tube bombings suspect Yasin Hassan Omar in Birmingham on Wednesday. Sir Ian said such action was not "policy" but the officers may have made sure there was no bomb present. "The Taser itself could have set it off," he told the BBC.
The remarks were made on a special Questions of Security programme on BBC One. ... [H]e answered questions about why his officers shot dead a Brazilian man in London who was wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber. ... On Thursday, the Home Office said Mr Menezes' visa had expired two years before he was shot by police.
...
However he stood by the force's shoot-to-kill policy to apprehend suspected suicide bombers. "Despite everything that's been said here, there is only one way to stop someone who is a suicide bomber which is to kill that person," Sir Ian said. Sir Ian said using a Taser in such a situation was "not an option". "We use Tasers in London regularly but a Taser sends electric currents into the body of somebody," he said. "If there is a bomb on that body, then the bomb is going to go off. "It may have been that they [officers in Birmingham] were clear there wasn't a bomb. I don't know what the situation was."
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