Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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Do you guys not realize he RAN AWAY FROM THE POLICE in a subway station wearing heavy clothing in the winter.

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Do you not realize that if we don't question police actions such as this, properly determine that they acted correctly and if not then enact change, that we seriously run the risk of it becoming ok for the police to shoot first, ask questions later when someone is

RUNNING AWAY FROM THE POLICE in a subway station wearing heavy clothing when IT REALLY IS WINTER.

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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If you could possibly shoot out both arms before he detonates, this would be a reasnoble option. However, the almost certain chance that you don't succeed makes the option far too risky to even attempt.

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I agree this is very difficult/impossible to do accurately. The thing that bothers me is he had done basically nothing, they had zero reason to suspect him, they were following him with guns wearing baseball caps and tee-shirts, people panic. If its okay for trained police to mess up, surely its okay for a scared guy going about his business to make one.

I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, but not prepared to give them the power to be judge jury and executioner without being accountable. Mistakes are understandable, saying 'whoops', or 'it'll happen again' is not good enough.

Mack

I was OK with the killing at first, too
 

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Do you guys not realize he RAN AWAY FROM THE POLICE in a subway station wearing heavy clothing in the summer.

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But what if he was not running away from the POLICE ?

What if he was running away from baseball-hat T-shirt wearing tough-looking DUDES who did not identify themselves properly (or loud enough) as the POLICE ?

(By the way, the acoustics in the underground are terrible!..)

I am absolutely in favor of aggressive preventive measures by the police --- provided they are carried out professionally and efficiently. Would you want your son to have a mugger threatening him and, when he makes a run for it, to shoot him dead ? If the POLICE appeared to the Brazilian as muggers, they were the ones that started the tragic events rolling, i.e. the suspect trying to run away. I was in favor of the killing at first, but now I cannot see a young man being so stupid as to be running away from the POLICE (a) after the terrorist attack when he would know the POLICE are edgy, and (b) for no reason (the Brazilian was a law-abiding fellow).

The POLICE should make sure that, when they take off the civilian appearance, it is blatantly obvious that they are THE POLICE, goddamnit!.. How difficult can that be?

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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Do you guys not realize he RAN AWAY FROM THE POLICE in a subway station wearing heavy clothing in the summer.

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Excuse me if I am incorrect, but the original post concerned a hypothetical situation, did it not? I am not posting about the specific instance of the Brazilian man killed in London.

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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Do you guys not realize he RAN AWAY FROM THE POLICE in a subway station wearing heavy clothing in the summer.

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His family have said they were told he was wearing a light jeans jacket and not heavy clothing. Regardless, this is London, not Dallas; it's not exactly boiling here, and the fleece jacket he was supposed to have been wearing is not exactly a bearskin. There's also the fact that the police should have tried to get an idea of who lived in the block of flats they were staking out before treating every person emerging from it as a suicide bomber; and the fact that three men had him pinned to the ground before they pumped eight bullets into his head.

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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His family have said they were told he was wearing a light jeans jacket and not heavy clothing. Regardless, this is London, not Dallas; it's not exactly boiling here, and the fleece jacket he was supposed to have been wearing is not exactly a bearskin. There's also the fact that the police should have tried to get an idea of who lived in the block of flats they were staking out before treating every person emerging from it as a suicide bomber; and the fact that three men had him pinned to the ground before they pumped eight bullets into his head.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who disagrees that it's okay to shoot anyone you have the faintest suspicion of being a terrorist, and then to expect no questions. We can trust and support the police, but they must still be accountable.

Mack

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

Here we go:

"Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead in the head, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, Vivien Figueiredo, 22, said that the first reports of how her 27-year-old cousin had come to be killed in mistake for a suicide bomber on Friday at Stockwell tube station were wrong.

"He used a travel card," she said. "He had no bulky jacket, he was wearing a jeans jacket. But even if he was wearing a bulky jacket that wouldn't be an excuse to kill him."

Brazilian did not wear bulky jacket

This wouldn't exactly be surprising. Virtually everything else the police initially claimed turned out to be untrue.

Re: For ACPplayer and Cyrus
 

almost 50% of you would shoot some guy in the head if you were 20% sure that he was as terrorist?
thats [censored] up.

Re: Your question is flawed and biased
 

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This wouldn't exactly be surprising. Virtually everything else the police initially claimed turned out to be untrue.

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The former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police was on the radio this morning, he implied that the police always put a spin on press releases, basically they avoid admission of blame to keep down litigation costs, his words not mine. Hence 'the man shot by police at Aldgate tube station this morning was directly linked with ongoing enquiries into last weeks terrorist attacks'.

Mack

Re: For ACPplayer and Cyrus
 

Could you please point out the point the OP illustrates with the question?