strim

It is a tough job and someone had to make a tough decision, but at the end of the day the police made a mistake, killed an innocent man and need to take some accountability.

CitySimon

My heart goes out to the family of the guy.

However, how many people here can say that they would not have shot the guy!?!

The day after there had been a failed bomb attempt on a subway train in London, the guy runs from police towards a subway train.

Did he expect that they would let him go?

I am very happy to have not had to make that decision which cost the guy his life, but, if it had been my decision, I would have shot him as well!


I think that him being in London illegally would definitely put a dent in any attempt to sue the police force.

- If he had been in London legally, he would not have had to run!
- If he had left before his visa expired, he would not have been in London to need to run!

krizzy

He was running because he was not an innocent man.........he was an illlegal........it was just so very sad....that he ran on the wrong day.......

strim

being guilty of an expired visa and running from plain clothes policeman never used to be a capital offence.

NJ_Dave

It's interesting that the family are already talking about suing, and that there is hardly anything in the news about their grief. I'm sure that Mr. de Menezes would be glad to know that his family is missing his paycheck more than they are missing him.....

CitySimon

You are correct... But a decision needed to be made... and it was!

He ran from the police towards a subway train... The police can not read minds!

ladylisa

The family should not be allowed to sue the police, there are so many stupid court cases going on throughout the world when will someone have the sense to stop them at the outset. The police have a hard enough job as it is we should not make them second guess themselves for fear of criticism when they have an immediate judgement call to make. Just think what everyone would be saying if they had not shot him when they had the chance and the guy had denoted himself and many others.

Manc

Nope, but they can read the Prevention of Terrorism act 2005. Nowhere does it say 7 slugs to the head is ok.

dunroving

And I'm sure that if the police knew he was just an illegal alien they wouldn't have shot him.

If I wave a toy gun at a policeman I expect to be shot, even if I'm not really a gun-toting criminal intent on killing someone. This person behaved like a suicide bomber - now that is a capital offence in my book.

I have sympathy for most of his family, less sympathy for him (because he was responsible for his own actions), and no sympathy for the members of his family who are suing the police.

CitySimon

Fair call Manc... I do admit that 7 head shots is a bit of overkill! Was he actually hit in the head by seven shots or were seven shots fired in total?

Lets face it, one shot to the head is enough to kill a person. Two if you are making sure.

Although, I would be interested to see how many guns those 7 shots came from. It may be that 4 different police officers were shooting at the same time and all fired two shots each.

Obviously, right now we do not know, but I am not going to assume that one police officer deliberately shot him in the head seven times without some evidence.

elfman

That's unfair (and bordering on offensive to the family) and you know it.
If a close relative of yours visiting New York was overpowered and shot seven times in the head by the NYPD when he hadn't committed any crime other than overstaying his visa and then doing a runner when confronted by armed men in plain clothes yelling at him, are you saying you wouldn't sue? Get real.

krizzy

And the police knew for sure that he was only running toward a train a day after a bombing try..because he had an out of date visa.......yeah OK.....I'm sure if they knew that........they would of done something else...unless you're saying we have murderers in the police force.....killing people for sport...if so can you give links to other times this has happened in London...???

Would you run if you had an out of date visa.......towards a train after a bombing try.....??
No I don't believe you are that stupid.........

Manc

It's a toughie, no doubt about it.

I just don't think it's right going around killing people in the middle of London.

Sure one can argue that the terrorists are uncivilised bastards. Yet I think we, the British nation are better than that.

You fight evil with evil then evil wins no matter.

krizzy

On a normal day...I would be as mad as hell....but this was not a normal day.....and overstaying a visa is a crime.........a big crime.......and we are too darn PC to see this.........

NJ_Dave

Point 1: Instead of grieving their loss, they are talking about suing. I have no sympathy for people like that.

Point 2: My family would not be stupid enough to run away from the police, especially the day after an attempted bombing on the Subway.

Point 3: If a member of my family was killed, I'd call the funeral home not my attorney. You are the one who need to get real...