Police officer cleared

You’ve already said yourself he wasn’t stationary. He was moving backwards and forwards to try and manoeuvre his way out. And yes I am pro police. As are most people. Without them protecting us on the streets we’d be at the mercy of thugs like Kaba.

Shouldn’t have tried to get away then 🤷‍♀️

On the news it was saying her was reversing his car and trying to hit the police car.

I don't think any defendants name until after trial and only if convicted. People make their own assumptions without actually sitting in the court room and hearing the evidence and releasing a defendants name just puts them and their families at risk. Many read what they are accused of but don't read the fact they are cleared by a jury.

"In the public interest" is not about protecting the public or those involved in the case where the press are concerned. It's about what will literally be an interesting read over lunch.

I'll say it again. He could have stopped the car, turned off the engine and been arrested.
He clearly thought he could get away. Move the car back and forth and the police withdraw so he can get away.

I think it's delightful that people are so trusting. There's me thinking people were cynical nowadays but it's not true.

If he can't do his job without shooting unarmed civilians in the head, he shouldn't be doing it.

I can't believe how pro police people are. All the unarmed men shot by the police have been black. Investigations have found the police to be institutionally racist and it seems to be chock full of abusers, but apparently they can't do anything wrong.

The officer lied, he said that the car was coming towards him at speed, we can all see it was stationary. He said there was an imminent threat to life - there wasn't.

He could see -he didn't need CCTV or any other evidence - that the man had his hands on the wheel and the car was stationary.

Yes but was about to speed off again, or it was reasonable to consider he was about to do that. Had he just stopped when asked by armed police, he wouldn’t have been shot.

The family are already claiming they didn't get justice, linking it to BLM and saying they will never rest until they have justice. They don't recognise that a jury, independent of the police and CPS found the police officer not guilty.

As so often the first response nails it.

'I have no sympathy for criminals who end up dead.'

This.

If he had stopped and allowed the officers to speak to him/arrest him, he would still be alive today.

This is nothing at all like wayne couzens and it's offensive to draw comparisons between a police officer who used his badge and status to rape and viciously murder a woman, and a police officer who had a split second to make a decision to protect the public when faced with a violent gang member who was trying to ram police officers with a car, with a history of violence and the very high likelihood that there was a gun in the car.

If you don't want to run the risk of falling foul of the police, don't get involved in gangs. Don't partake in gun crime. When the police ask you to stop and get out of the car, do it and don't try and ram them.

@MilletOver - as far as I can see Kaba isn't mentioned in that article?

Chris Kaba was a criminal, he had a record for firearms offences. He was in a gang who conspired to commit murder. He wasn't an angel. He was driving a car that was suspected of being involved in a shooting. None of it looks good.

No it doesn’t and whilst of course it doesn’t mean he deserves to die (he didn’t) the police officer is thinking this hence why he sees him as a threat.

I agree that the Met has serious shortcomings but I don’t think you can can group this police officer with the likes of Wayne C and those who photographed dead bodies. It’s completely different circumstances & I would say more similar to Jean Charles de Menezes but his of course was wrong identity but the officer didn’t know that at the time.

Chris Kaba was a criminal, he had a record for firearms offences. He was in a gang who conspired to commit murder. He wasn't an angel. He was driving a car that was suspected of being involved in a shooting. None of it looks good. He didn't stop the car, he didn't turn the engine off, he clearly wanted out. He was the architect of his own downfall.

There is no integrity in the Metropolitan Police. Whether they are driving or using firearms the cavalier attitude, total disregard for safety and trying to cover their tracks afterwards is very clear and totally disgusting. There are a long list of cases - Jean Charles de Menezes, William Cameron, Heather Smedley and many more who have lost their lives to incompetence and worse. The organisation that nurtured Wayne Cousins and the officers who behaved so appallingly to the bodies of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman is not one that any of us can rely on to uphold standards of even common decency. Chris Kaba and his family did not get justice.

The problem is the situation is fraught, the police offers are fearful & Chris wound have been too.

It doesn't tally with the officer's claim that police lives were in imminent danger. They clearly weren't. He could see the car was stationary and that the driver had his hands on the steering wheel.
I would agree with you if he was holding a gun or was coming at speed. But he shot an unarmed man in the head in a stationary car.

But the car wasn’t stationary because as you said it bumped behind and to the side?
How does the officer know there isn’t a gun? Because it’s not been pointed at him?
Hands on the steering wheel doesn’t mean you can’t accelerate?
Why drive forward when the police officer on the passengers side points a gun & shouts?
A slow moving car can still do considerable damage to a human standing in front of it?
Why not turn off the engine?

Now from Chris’s perspective I can see that his actions might have been just him panicking as we don’t know how we will react in these situations.

username35890

Why didn't he stop when asked? Why did he drove so aggressively?

I think you have to recognise the fear the officers would have had. I doubt anyone can prepare for that scenario. The noise of the car crashing and revving would have suggested his intention was to escaping at any cost, including harming the officers. Had he driven off, innocent people in addition to the police could have been injured. I think that's a reasonable assessment from the video evidence of aggressive driving.

The officer did not have access to CCTV when he made the decision. He had to make repeated difficult decisions in fractions of a second in order to protect you, the public!

In a situation where you came face to face with someone like Kaba would you be able to handle it or would you call the police?

That's obvious.

We've all seen the evidence. The CCTV evidence and the police evidence, it's been shown on the news and in the media. I don't have your faith in juries, there have been many miscarriages of justice and I've served on one; it was a joke.