Monday, July 17, 2006

The only ones immune enough...

The London police who shot/executed Jean Charles de Menezes last year will not be charged for mistakenly killing an innocent man, though the department may face a charge of "violating the country's health and safety code".
It is interesting that in a country that prohibits civilians from using force in all but the most extreme cases of self-defense, the police can run down and kill someone on the suspicion that the person may be guilty.
No wonder they don't like the police to have guns in the UK.

9 comments:

Kenny said...

I remember something on the news when this happened. I thought there was a little more to the story, like he ran or something. Still no reason to cap him.

Dave. said...

Hi BOBG.
Dropped in after seeing you are also the proud onwer of a stent - I'll see yours and raise you one! After being taken through to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, about 65 miles away, they rested me up for a few days, saw where the blockages where and stented them. It's certainly a brilliant prcedure when you are on the receiving end but I guess for the surgeons it's pretty much an everday thing.

The whole de Menezes situation has been a mess from the start. The only thing that can be said about the policemen who where involved in the actual shooting is that they were in an environment that was affected by the 7th July bombings. But the intelligence that identified de Menezes was flawed. However, when first challenged, he apparently ran from the police who eventually caught up with him. He was also wearing a backpack, which is a favourite way for suicide bombers to carry their bombs. The officer/s who shot him were apparently fearful that he was about to detonate a bomb. I'm not defending the police in this situation but the BBC can be very selective in how and what they report. I know that the BBC is considered to be unbiased and accurate in it's reporting but I would suggest that they can also be selective in what they report.

I would hate to see our police permanently armed. I believe they do a good job with just having specialist armed response teams.

BobG said...

Our police are permanently armed, but we tend to like it that way. I read the same facts to which you refer, but was still not satisfied how it was handled. Most of our police would not be as quick to empty a gun in a suspect, even though we have more armed criminals here than in the UK.

My stent was a little bit different affair; I woke up on a Monday with what felt like a mule trying to kick it's way out of my chest. Went to the hospital, had the stent put in later that day. At that time I found out that I had had at least a couple of mild attacks within the last couple of years that I had not known about, other than a general feeling of tiredness and feeling "burnt out". I was released on a Wednesday. Now it is just a matter of getting myself back into better shape so as not to get a repeat.

Kenny said...

Okay not to be out done by my stint brothers. It was a Tuesday morning and I was just finishing my breakfast. I took my last bite of food and in a half of heart beat I was hit with heartburn beyond belief. I went to work and ate tums all day long. I could not sleep that night unless I was setting up. I had to go to Nellis AFB on Wednesday for work. All day Wednesday I had the worst heart burn ever. We had done a one day trip to Nellis because we were going to England (for work) on Friday. I was dropped off at the airport and luckily the explosive safety officer for the Air Force was with me. He was almost always with me on these trips. We worked closely. We were waiting to board the plane and I had gone to play a few slot machines. I lost two bucks. But setting at the gate I started to get really clammy and sick. I lay down on the floor and my buddy asked if he should get someone. I said “yes”. The EMT’s showed up and haul me to the hospital. I got my stint the next day. The bride had flown out and saw me just before I went in for the stint. Now this is paraphrased a little but I don’t want to type the whole thing out.

BobG said...

I haven't been to Nellis in a long time; that is where I was born.

Kenny said...

Cool in the past few years I have been there a couple of times a year. I don't stay on base, I like to stay at Sam's town.

Firehand said...

Last I heard, they said he was wearing a heavy jacket on a warm day(he wasn't), he ran(he didn't), he jumped the gate into the underground(he used his pass), etc. Basically, they screwed the pooch bigtime, and then repeatedly lied about it.

And wasn't it one of their armed response teams that blew away a guy with a table leg he'd picked up after being repaired? And then bitched and whined about being held responsible for shooting him?

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