Innocent Man Shot 7 Times in the Head by London Police

[Mephisto]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4159310.stm

That's awful~
No warning or anything.

[Topaz]

GFG NOOB

[iago]

I'm not sure why the "7 Times" matters so much.  1 time would have killed him, and police are trained to "make sure" if they think their life is in danger.

Yes, it's still terrible, but people shouldn't be obsessing over the fact that it's "7 times"

[Soul Taker]

He was shot eight times in total.  How was their life in danger?  It was an innocent man who was already immobilized by the police.

[Arta]

It is bad, but also more complicated than that.

http://musingsofharry.blogspot.com/2005/08/shoot-to-kill-policies-are-short.html
http://musingsofharry.blogspot.com/2005/08/sir-ian-blair.html
http://musingsofharry.blogspot.com/2005/08/documents-relating-to-de-menezes.html

[Hazard]

Thats what you get when your police are, well, British.

[Joe[x86]]

Heh, mom, I moved out here because we thought Philly was too dangerous..
  -Will Smith

[Arta]

Thats what you get when your police are, well, British.

Yeah. Obviously, the police here shoot people far more often than in the States. Ok. Right. Shall I drip with sarcasm some more?

[Zorm]

This looks like a serious lapse in training or a vengeful officer and not a failure of policy.

There was a case in New Mexico like this not to long ago. A person shot and killed a cop but was then taken into custody by officers. While the guy was handcuffed the partner of the cop killed shot the handcuffed person and killed him. Of course the cop was charged and is now doing time in prison.

The point is that shit happens and you can't jump up and blame a policy or anyone group of people. Now clearly if this gets repeated then you start to question whats going on.

On the whole dead man switch deal. Killing a terrorist who is holding a button will save lives. Hes likely to be farther away from people then he would be if he was releasing said button on his own. So while people may still die or get injured it will be way less than if he was allowed to continue onto a train or whatever and blow himself up.

[Arta]

There most certainly is something wrong, in this case. See: http://musingsofharry.blogspot.com/2005/08/documents-relating-to-de-menezes.html

[Forged]

I really don't understand why the police felt inclined to shoot him.  From what I have read it apears to be an almost random killing so I guess I should wait to reserve judgement.

I wasn't even aware british officers carried guns though.

[Arta]

They don't, routinely. These were from the armed police unit - like swat.

They shot him because they thought he was a suicide bomber. If they'd have been right, it could quite possibly have been the best move. Unfortunately, they were entirely wrong, and it's starting to look like there were numerous missed opportunities to discover that.

I, also, am waiting for the inquiry's report before I decide.

[Grok]

Thats what you get when your police are, well, British.

Yeah. Obviously, the police here shoot people far more often than in the States. Ok. Right. Shall I drip with sarcasm some more?

Clearly British police need to shoot more civilians.  With experience comes perfection.  If they really worked on it, they can be as proficient as our American police.

[Grok]

They don't, routinely. These were from the armed police unit - like swat.

They shot him because they thought he was a suicide bomber. If they'd have been right, it could quite possibly have been the best move. Unfortunately, they were entirely wrong, and it's starting to look like there were numerous missed opportunities to discover that.

I, also, am waiting for the inquiry's report before I decide.

I hope that if there is discipline, it is not against the police in the field.  They had the least control over their orders.  The officer who created the shooting policy, if at all, should be disciplined.  However, given the extreme circumstances of the previous days, no one's career should be jeopardized.  A genuine "I'm sorry" might be in order, but terrorism is war and mistakes are going to be made.  The lessons learned from this innocent's death should be applied to making safer procedures and orders for the police.  They should not be punished as long as they followed the standing (albeit possibly wrong in hindsight) orders.

[Option]

hey, here in the US you can get shot 40 times for pulling out your wallet. 7 times in the head isnt that bad since he was more than likely already dead when the first one hit.