Innocent

[Cookie]

They were undercover officers who had been in contact with this guy for a while. If they were going to kill him they had reason to, this is the UK not the trigger happy United states of America.

The only wrong doing in the whole thing is the Metropoliton police not giving full explanation of why. But i think there is a reason behind that aswell.

[Floyd]

My yes can stay, it was an unfortunate mistake, but under the circumstances, who can blame the police?

[Cdls]

The person left a house that was being watched by the police. He acted suspicious, and ran from police. I heard that he understood and could speak english just fine and that he had been living there for three years. I stand behind my opinion that the officer was correct in doing what he did.

[formerly known as hf]

I don;t blame the officer that shot him - it does look like a pnic response, and I agree with the stress they would have been under with the bombings, and the wepaons they, thankfully, are not used to. So, no. like I was trying to say before I don't blame to officer(s) that shot him.

And, no, I don't know all the details - a lot of the 'did he speak english?' 'was he on the ground?' etc. are unanswered

What I do have a problem with are the guidlines that allow such a thing to have happened in the first place. Such a shooting - by british police - just shouldn't be a possibility.

And if the police can't tell a Brazillian from someone in the middle east - they need a whole lot better training...

[Pirog]

I think it is insane to justify what the police officers did.

Police officers are educated to deal with situations like that and carry the responsibility for their actions. Sure, police are humans and can make human mistakes, but why shall their mistakes be accepted when all other people have to pay for theirs?

If I had panicked because I thought he would blow himself up and hit him in the head with a shovel, I would go to jail. When a police officer does the same thing, and in the horrifying way of unloaded 5 shots into a person that is allready on the ground, he is excused...I think that is crazy.

[Pie]

Well, you do have a point there, but it still stands, that people do make mistakes, and, lets have an example. if you saw a police oficer running at you, telling you to stop IF you had a bom, would you stop? no, you would do exactly what he did. Run. The guy they were chasing panict. And, if you were inocent, would you panic? No, you would wait until the police arived to check you for a bom. And, considering the stress that was apon the police, they did make a mistake, but it is justifiable by the way that man acted in pursuit. And if he was a suicide bomer(just like on the news i watch) then the police would be blamed for not doing enough to protect the people.

[west]

Even if I didn't have a bomb, and people were running at me with guns, I would run. Weren't they plainclothes officers?

[Pie]

but did they say they were ofisers when chasing him? i still stand by the statment that they did do rong, but it would have been even worse if he did have a bom, and people would wonder why they didn't do what he did.

if they were plain cloths, then i could understand him running, but you have to admit, him running was a bit misleading.

[Cdls]

Here are some things that you all need to think about:
1) We arm police to do their jobs.
2) When an officer is needed to use his firearm, he is trained to kill
3) While it is true that officers are trained to shoot at center mass (for those that dont know, that means the chest area) Shooting a possible suicide bomber there is stupid as he can hit the bomb, so aiming for the head is the next available alternative
4) The officer did not have the time we all have to sit back and consider everything. He had a couple seconds to make that choice.

That officers life is problably hell right now, and he is problably regretting what happened, but it was the right choice to make.

[Floyd]

Agreed

[Pie]

I secont that.

[Floyd]

*Coughs* Second... With a D

[AoM]

I don't think the situation deserves a blame game. It's a tragedy, that's all there is to it. Mistakes were undoubtedly made on both sides. The victim for not understanding the seriousness of the situation he was in, and the policeman for shooting the man, who obviously panicked when guns were pointed at him.


In hindsight, we know the man was innocent. Perhaps innocent men do not run, but an innocent man who is scared to death by five guns being pointed at him might act irrationally. The rest of the world is in no position to judge the policeman or the victim.

[Augery]

They said on the news last night that he was shot at 7 times, but 2 bullets missed, 5/7 hit ratio at point blank range sounds like the police were panicking to me.

[Pirog]

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:10 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some things that you all need to think about:
1) We arm police to do their jobs.
2) When an officer is needed to use his firearm, he is trained to kill
3) While it is true that officers are trained to shoot at center mass (for those that dont know, that means the chest area) Shooting a possible suicide bomber there is stupid as he can hit the bomb, so aiming for the head is the next available alternative
4) The officer did not have the time we all have to sit back and consider everything. He had a couple seconds to make that choice.

That officers life is problably hell right now, and he is problably regretting what happened, but it was the right choice to make.

You might perhaps want to add "...according to me" to your last sentence

I have sympathies for the police officer, but I still claim that the law shouldn't be different for the police force than for anyone else.

If we allow the police to be able to kill people because they are wearing jackets in the summer and behaving suspiciously I'm very afraid of how our societies will develop...