Fatal mistake
Turns out the guy that the London police shot wasn’t a terrorist. Just some Brazilian guy. On the assumption that the police correctly identified themselves, the guy should not have ran. However, if the coppers failed to adequately identify themselves, there will (and should be) Hell to pay.
July 25th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
I read today that the policemen responsible for the shooting were undercover officers. If so, that completely changes my view of this event as it means it wasn’t a case of him seeing police officers and running, it was a case of him seeing some guys with guns approaching and running.
Considering Britain’s violent crime problem, it’s not unlikely he thought he was about to get mugged, making running a not unreasonable reaction.
July 26th, 2005 at 9:45 am
It’s hard to identify yourself while running after a guy. He’s not looking behind him, so showing a badge doesn’t do much. And shouting intelligibly while running at full tilt is difficult.
Something similar happened in New York a couple years ago. Undercover police chased an unarmed man in Queens and shot him dead. He had no real reason to run (no warrants, hadn’t committed any crime, etc.), and the best anybody can figure is he thought the police were muggers.