A suicide bomber wouldn't run in fear for his life!

[Judi Lynn]

A trucker just called that observation in to Lynn Samuels on Sirius Left. I think he probably has a point.

He said it appears the London cops just didn't take time to engage their brains or it would have occurred to them, too.

Very sad.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Yes, but...

He would try to run to get into a train and blow himself ujp before the cops could shoot him.

[The Magistrate]

2. It Does, Ma'am, Seem To Have Been A Ghastly Error

A bomber might not run to save his life, but might do so to make his target.

It is clear, however, the police were swept up in an emotional reaction from the moment this unfortunate gentleman departed the flats, and did not act with the coolness being entrusted with deadly force requires of an officer.

Their error is understandable, but given its consequences, unpardonable.

"You only get two mistakes, and usually your second is someone remembering your first one."

[notadmblnd]

3. Is it also understandable that they shot him 5 times in the head

after they apprehended him and had him on the ground?

[cornermouse]

6. At least.

[The Magistrate]

7. They Seem, Ma'am

To have been operating under the mistaken impression the man was wired with explosives. If that was actually the case, the course of shooting the brain to pieces would have been the proper one. Since they were mistaken in this belief, acting on it produced a great injustice. Acting on a belief that ois false to fact, however firmly or even perhaps easonably it is held, will generally have a bad result all around....

[notadmblnd]

8. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

If they felt he was wired for explosives, then why did two hold him down while a third put 5 shots in the back of his skull? Your reasoning might have been acceptable if they had shot him from a distance, but holding him down and shooting him point blank in the back of the head instead of checking him for those wires, I don't think so.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I'll give you the medical reason

if those bullets went through the limbic system destroying it, he stopped breathing and most importantly moving instantaneously. They believed he was wired and there was a dead man switch involved.

I hate to say it, but that is why they shot him where they shot him.

Should they go back to the drawing board to review procedure? Absolutely, but back of the head, probably means base of the skull and the primitive brain.

[The Magistrate]

12. Several Reasons Come To Mind, Ma'am

The leading one is that a "pile on" would have some considerable smothering effect on the blast, roughly analagous to that of several hundred pounds of sand-bags. In a case where detonation would threaten others, that is the response to be expected of dedicated officers. The point of the exercise would not be to prove he was armed with a charge, but to prevent him detonating it. What was done is precisely the drill one would expect to prevent detonaion, and minimize its effects if detonation occured in the circumstance. That the officers' belief was false does not alter the effect that belief would have had on their actions.

[Karenina]

13. They KNEW before they trailed him

that he was NOT the guy they were looking for.

"There are eight separate flats in the block. When Mr Menezes emerged from the communal front door just after 9.30am, the police must have realised from the photographs they carried that he was not one of the four bombers. Even so they decided that he was “a likely candidate” to follow because of his demeanour and colour, so one group set off on foot after him."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1707480,00.html

He was determined a "likely candidate" for a summary execution meant as a "warning" to dem errraaa... "Asians" by some trained-by-racist-idjits squad who missed the chapter on skin tone, body language and hair texture.

A less-deadly form of these kind of determinations occurred during the clean-up at the WTC as white cops "profiled" native born bi-racial, Puerto Rican, hell, ANYOBODY who did not fit their narrow description of Caucasian workers as AY-RABS, subjecting them to endless bullshit.

[mrfrapp]

11. Updated Information

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4713753.stm

7 times in the head, 1 in the shoulder.

[ruperupe]

4. maybe you should read this great thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4184924

[Judi Lynn]

9. Someone took a lot of care collecting those links!

Very helpful to those of us who didn't have adequate time to get familiar enough with the facts in the last few days.

Thanks a lot, and welcome to D.U. :hi: :hi: :hi:

[mirandaod]

5. Heard today

that he was running because his visa had expired. So, so sad. I really don't envy the police in these times. I can see how they thought he looked quite dangerous, under all the circumstances. He was in the wrong place (building under surveillance where terrorism suspects were thought to be), dressed inappropriately, ran from the police, onto a train in a city that has just had terrorist bombings on trains. I wouldn't want to have to make that decision. I'm very sorry for his family.