Death of an Electrician

A foreign looking man was shot a total of eight times when he ran away from armed undercover police. As he fell onto an underground train, eyewitnesses report the officers standing over him and taking the split second decision to pull their triggers a total of eight times.  How many point blank shots to the head did they consider necessary? Is this the act of a highly trained, highly professionals who are in control of the situation? Did they not have the subject in their possession? If the suspect was so dangerous, why was he first allowed to travel aboard a bus, and run into an underground station? It wasn't clear as to whether the policemen identified themselves as such, or even warned the man that they were armed. Witness reports differ. The victim's family report being specifically told that DeMendez hadn't jumped the barrier at the station, later a police report said he had. The police were quick to make an initial announcement that the man they had shot was a terrorist...when later they admitted he was not.

 These are the values of a civilized society, and yet our government sees fit to revoke such a basic right. People are willing to fight and die in defence of the right to a fair trail. Put politely - this just isn't cricket. Creation of a fear which inflates the perception of the risk so vastly that the response seems proportionate. Is our very way of life threatened? Yes, but by who? A step change in values as to the acceptable level of collateral damage.

 Is it worth taking the risk of a suspected bomber blowing himself up? The price of taking the moral decision is high, but never the less...is there a price which can be put on our liberties? It is said that a civilisation can be judged upon the way it treats its criminals.

 No. By becoming the kind of country which shoots first and asks questions later we aren't just loosing the battle, we've already lost. We can’t presume to have the knowledge or right to dispense justice until it is absolutely apparent that a crime is being committed. It is no surprise that the final threads of moral superiority are lost to the right wing agenda- tactics learnt from Israel where the security forces can dispense justice with incredulity; shooting British journalists and Palestinian children without reprimand. These values, seen as superfluous by some, are the guiding principles on which we base our society; yes they are worth dying for.

Does the ‘shoot to kill’ policy serve to increase the peace? Or does this merely enforce the ideas that they'd like us to believe; that we're a country at war. I thought the government said they wouldn't allow their policies to be manipulated by terrorists? Blair has done an amazing job at helping create a state of terror. We're certainly at war, but the enemy is within; hate and fear, and it is our leaders who are peddling this filth without acknowledgement of the simple concept; you reap what you sow.

Mr. Blair, how can you have the audacity to suggest that your murderous policy is on account of the terrorists, yet at the same time deny that any terrorist action is on account of your policies?

  "Not one inch should we give to these people ... We shouldn't even allow them a vestige of an excuse for what they do," Blair said at his monthly news conference. We give no vestige to your excuses Mr Blair, nor do we except to give 'an inch' in terms of sacrificing the liberties we hold so dearly. The 'rules of the game'  never grant free licence to behave in ways which contradict the moral code we're defending.

The chief of police makes the excuse of the shooting to be taken "In context of the circumstances". i.e. the officers in question were terrified and trigger happy. The suspect wasn't wearing a heavy jacket, carrying a bag, or jumping the ticket barrier, but merely jogged to the closing subway train doors, and took his seat normally. The officers didn't seem to know what their actual suspect looked like.

The incident inquiry blundered from the start with "missing" CCTV pictures of the incident...and a lack of action in correcting media inaccuracies. And we wonder why police love internal investigation and hate the idea of forced accountability with ideas such as this one.