The head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair, was not told for 24 hours that the young Brazilian shot and killed by his men on a London tube train was innocent and had no connection with bombings in the city, he said last night.
The astonishing claim suggests that Sir Ian was kept in the dark about the bungled shooting by senior officers inside the Met, or that the elite surveillance teams which tracked Jean Charles de Menezes took more than a day to discover the identity of the man they had killed by shooting him seven times in the head and once in the neck.
Either option leaves confidence in both Sir Ian and his force at a critically low level.
Jenny Jones, the deputy mayor of London and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority which oversees the conduct of the Met, said she had been told “categorically” by the police that the man killed at Stockwell tube station was a suicide bomber.
That limited explanation may not be enough to satisfy two officials from Brazil who are scheduled to meet members of the IPCC, the Met and officials from the Foreign office tomorrow morning.
Wagner Goncalves, the federal deputy attorney general and inspector general of the federal prosecutors office, along with Marcio Pereira García, assistant director of the department of international judicial co-operation in the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, are to discuss their demands for a full public inquiry into the death of de Menezes.
At the street level, cops are the same in Britain as elsewhere. The Brotherhood of the Badge is stronger than requirements and rules set forth by their superior officers — or any public oversight.
Cops make mistakes just like other human beings. The result of those mistakes can be tragic. Acting like politicians and trying to cover up — never works, never helps.
It could of taken 25 hours.
Yeah, but SEVEN bullets to the head?…
SEVEN bullets to the head, and not any question at all. That officers’ procedure was absolutely wrong, they knew it and did not report anything to police department head but 24 hours later. Consequently, head did not admit the mistake to public opinion, but he should know the applied procedure was absolutely wrong, so he is as responsible as his men in this incident.
If there were several people shooting, then I could see how that many rounds could have been fired.
Maybe the London cops, including the big shots, were kinda busy just then. If I remember right, there was some big terrorist activity going on.
It’s hard to quantify the difference in scale between the Brits and Brazilians with regard to the amount of caution and consideration they give to the general populace. I saw a piece on TV where the Brazilian law enforcement types often get in helicopters and fire machine guns into city high crime areas.
Ok, let’s think about this. Don’t people normally _fall down_ after one, two or three bullets to the head?! What this means is after they shot the guy in the head a couple of times he’s on the ground, then they ran up to him and while he was lying on lthe ground, shot him 6 or 7 more times.
Truly incredible.
The comparison between the MET and the Polica Militar (Brazil’s main police force) is pointless. If we want to compare the two then it’s a poor indication on where the MET is heading. Brazil’s police force is a fairly corrupt unit, seems the MET is not far behind.
In regards to the number of bullets in the head, the fact is that if you shoot someone today, your much better off financially and defensively in court if this person isn’t around to illicit emotion and and to argue against your explanation of events to the judge and jury. Thus, as they say, if you’re going to shoot…shoot to kill.
In addition, anyone who knowingly goes “running” by a damaged bees nest should/has to expect to be stung (even if they didn’t damage it). Stupidity is a very valid reason for dying. The only problem is that in today’s world, medical technology has advanced to the point where the majority of idiots get a second and third chance as well as the opportunity to reproduce and spread their defective genes and viewpoints. Some even become President. : )
You have to aim for the head so they don’t press a button if they have one. You have a terrorist attack the day before. Think twice before you put on a long coat or want to run through a subway.
I wish we had a shoot to kill policy here in the states but you know we can’t because of lawyers.
I’d assume a bullet anywhere in your body would be enough to stop you or at least slow you down considerably…. Yes, it was soon after the London bombings, but I still feel it was a bit too much… As I understand the guy just ran away, he didn’t show anything that remotely resembled a weapon or anything…
Not necessarily–I understand Mr. de Menezes was sitting down when he was shot, and if two or more policemen had fired at him, those shots could have been fired within a two- or three-second span. 9mm pistols are easy for trained persons to fire quickly and accurately.
That said, there’s no excuse for the police’s lying like they did. Sure looks like a coverup to me.
Comment to John S:
Seven shots in the head and one in the neck means one of the officers missed his head-shot.
Just imagine yourself in their shoes: Your superior officers have told you that you are following one of the London bombers. Before mounting the train, 7 officers yell to the guy to stop and he jumps on the train… (Remember the Spanish train bombings?)
Imagine yourself in the shoes of the victim and one of the police officers now…
What would you have done?
Fabrizio
John Schumann, the Brazillian police is far from perfect, but they don’t start a shooting with choppers in “high crime areas”. When they use helicopters, is usually to give feedback to the officers on the ground (and yes, the officers on the ground sometimes kill inocent people).
When innocent people are shot here, there are internal affairs’ investigations and the people responsible are usually arrested and prosecuted. We are not a lawless country. We also have pressure groups, human rights groups, who fight that kind of behavior from police.
When foreigners are killed here, the police investigate the crimes and arrest the killers and we expect the same treatment from other countries.
The Brits are being insensitive, the guy was a hard working young man, trying to get a better life from himself and his family and I expect that at least they pay a big reparation to his family and change their procedures. They could have shot him in the arms or legs to immobilize him, but they choose to shot him in the head instead.
Fabrizio, as new reports have shown, Jean was wearing a shirt, not a coat, he bought a subway token and wasn’t running from police.