To think he shouldn’t be charged with murder

[CovidCorvid]

Story in the news today. A man is stabbing a woman to death in the street, people try and intervene and he’s waving a big knife about. A passing motorist rams him with a car and kills him. The driver has now been charged with murder. I get that people can’t take the law into his own hands but for all he knew it was a mad man/terrorist who might be about to start killing others. Never mind trying to save the life of the poor woman who died. Surely he can argue he didn’t have an intention to kill the man, but was just hoping to stop him.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/24/woman-stabbed-man-killed-hit-by-car-maida-vale-west-london

Poor guy, just trying to help 😥

Members of the public aren't empowered to go around smiting evil-doers to death. The law has to be fair and applicable to everyone.

Yes, but this wasn't a vigilante revenge attack, he was trying to stop the guy stabbing someone to death.

Although obviously we don't know the details so it's all speculation anyway.

No YANBU

From what I've read of what happened, it seems the man used reasonable force to stop the guy.

I hope the case is dropped.

@madisonbridges

But unless I'm reading it wrong, he hasn't been charged, he's been arrested. Two very huge different things.

Very true, sorry I’d read it wrong. Still seems awful for the poor bloke.

Oh for gods sake .

He got arrested because at the end of the day , he killed someone . It will need investigating . To investigate you use powers of search and seizure , some of which can only be used after arrest . Sections 32, 18 and 19 of PACE , for example . You can’t arrest for manslaughter at the scene because you didn’t know always know the intent . So you arrest for murder and then any charges get put in front of the CPS and they make the charging decision. It’s not about ‘easy targets ‘ it’s about being able to use the powers given correctly . Which is what everyone wants , isn’t it ?

Go and commission a medal for him then.

Thanks Plomino, I was hoping one of MN's coppers would be able to explain.

He's been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The police have to arrest him in order to allow a full and proper investigation and in order to do that they have to name a valid reason why. This is vastly different from being charged with murder.

Hopefully, if the early news reports are right, and he was in the wrong (right) place at the wrong time and made a split second decision to try and save somebody's life he will be released without charge.

If somebody carry's out an action that results in somebody else's death then surely you have to expect the police to arrest them whilst they establish the facts.
Until the police are issued with reliable crystal balls then they'll just have to carry on arresting potential criminals until facts have been decided.

He has not been charged.
He has been arrested, presumably to allow investigation.
If things are as described he is highly unlikely to be charged.
No need to misrepresent and over hype this sad situation.

Seriously, it happened a little over 12 hours ago and we don't even have the full facts yet. You have no more idea about who did what and with what motivation than I do

Well obviously I’m only going by what’s been reported but witnesses were quite clear that the car driver didn’t appear to know the man. He’d got out the car to try and stop the attack but was unsuccessful so used his car. So yeah, my crystal ball says his motivation was probably to try and stop the woman getting stabbed to death.

Very true, sorry I’d read it wrong. Still seems awful for the poor bloke.

A very worrying time for him, but he took someone's life. If it's all as reported, I hope he walks away. But the truth has to be fully established first. You can't have people killing people with no accountability.

Poor woman.

covidcorvid
Don’t waste your time.
You’ll always get a load of lefty do gooders on here defending the indefensible.

Obviously I’m not referring to the people putting out that the arrest may not lead to a charge or the very helpful
Contribution from the officer’s wife.

Arrested and charged while the circumstances of the incident are investigated sounds ok (just ok - not great though). If it is as it indeed sounds from the initial reports then i expect it to be all dropped and the man thanked for his efforts.

I would say it is a bit different to witness a stabbing and grab something close (fire extinguisher/narwhale tusk) to hand and beat/stab the assailant to death with it than to be driving along a road and and spot a fracas on the pavement and swerve over, mount the curb and fortunately mow down the assailant, which i expect is partly why the arrest and initial charge. I suspect if he had grabbed a fire extinguisher from a nearby shop/scaffold pole from a building site, golf umbrella from the stand outside sports direct etc and gone to her aid & beat/impaled the guy then it may be handled differently.

@Smileyaxolotl1

covidcorvid Don’t waste your time. You’ll always get a load of lefty do gooders on here defending the indefensible.

Obviously I’m not referring to the people putting out that the arrest may not lead to a charge or the very helpful
Contribution from the officer’s wife.

Huh, I didn't realise you had to be left wing to understand how our legal system works.

I guess that explains a lot about the current incumbents in Westminster.

@sadpapercourtesan

If you deliberately hit somebody with your car, you must know there's a good chance you're going to cause their death

Members of the public aren't empowered to go around smiting evil-doers to death. The law has to be fair and applicable to everyone.

Members of the the public are allowed to defend themselves or another person from violence. If he was actually charged with murder then defending the life of another is a full defence.

He should definitely not be charged. What if the guy had gone on a further rampage and killed more innocent people?
Bloody good riddance I say

Hopefully after the investigation then he isn’t charged. If the facts are as they currently seem (and I get the police need to check) then it can’t be in the public interest to charge him and hopefully the defence of another defence will be enough.

The Police don’t charge, but they have to follow process and that in this case includes arrest. @CovidCorvid you should ask for your thread title to be edited because it’s clearly misleading some people.

Members of the public aren't empowered to go around smiting evil-doers to death. The law has to be fair and applicable to everyone

Actually, if the facts are as stated in the OP, it sound like lawful self-defence. You can kill someone in self-defence, and self-defence (I believe despite the the name) includes defending other people.

He's been arrested, not charged. There's a difference.

I think it's obviously right the police arrested him and will investigate. What he will be charged with, if anything, depends on the results of the investigation.

I read this and felt absolutely terrified. How awful other people tried to intervene unsuccessfully too. It's an awful story. There is however something confusing about the fact that the witnesses say he didn't do it immediately, it's as if they are suggesting he thought it through and then got back in the car and done it. I don't want to speculate though, the police are doing their work now.

Purplepansy05
From what I have read lots of people including this driver attempted to intervene on foot but didn’t get too close as the guy was so terrifying so the guy then got in his car to do it.

Smiley Right, I see, thanks - some press reports were unclear and confusing as to what's happened.