Police officer cleared

[Toomanywars]

Martin Blake police officer today cleared by a jury of unlawful killing of Chris Kaba

Should police officers get more support. Perhaps not release name until after trial or inquiry.

Basically there were riots and protests after a man Chris Kaba was shot by an armed police officer.

Officer was charged and today acquitted by a jury.

Is society or protesters quick to assume unlawful killing.

Officers and the public need to be kept safe.

Decisions made once the authority to arm has been given should not be subject to normal law. These people carry the mental weight that one day they may have to take a life to protect ours, they shouldn't have to carry the weight that if someone doesn't agree it goes to criminal court.

Fantastic news. Clearly the correct decision by the jury.

Absolutely the correct decision.

It’s really great news.

No one should be named until after the trial and only if found guilty

No one should ever be named, and the papers should support this too. It must be a dreadfully hard job, and they're treated like criminals for doing the thing they dread doing the most in their job - bloody awful, I'd never join the police force

Does anyone know what Chris Kaba was up to? Or Why the armed officers were there?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17lk592ygdo

Link to story

Police officers should absolutely be named at charge, the same as any defendant. We can’t have one rule for some members of society and another for others - especially if they’re police officers. Trust in the criminal justice system is low enough without such an affront to open justice.

There was no chance any jury was ever going to convict him on that evidence but I am glad it was tested in court. If it hadn’t been, public confidence in the Met would have been further dented and the victim’s family would have called for justice for the next two decades. The prosecution of a police officer shooting a member of the public is usually going to be in the public interest, even if there’s a likely not guilty verdict.

"He had been followed by police because the Audi car he was driving had been linked to a shooting in Brixton the night before.
Jurors heard that Mr Kaba drove backwards and forwards trying to ram his way free, which Mr Blake said made him believe one of his colleagues was about to die, and so he opened fire to stop the car.
A fellow firearms officer known as DS87 said he would have taken a shot if Mr Blake had not, and another identified by the cypher E156 said he was "fractions of a second" away from doing the same.
Another, NX109, got the finger of his glove caught in the Audi's door handle and just managed to wrench it free as it moved forward, telling the jury he thought he would be dragged between it and a Tesla parked nearby."

The car he was driving was linked to a shooting the night before.

He didn't stop, he drove his car attempyin to ram his way free. When you are asked to stop, you stop, you don't ram your way through.

An officer became caught on the car and thought he would be dragged along.

I'd really recommend a podcast called The Trial - Officer Blake. It has summaries from each couple of days from the trial. Very balanced reporting.

The car Chris K was driving was suspected of being involved in a shooting the night before. Car was stopped abd surrounded but CK was revving engine in a way it appeared he was about to push through the block which would have put lives of other officers at risk.

It took 17 seconds from start to finish.

*no suggestion CK was guilty of the shooting the previous night (from me).

Justice was done. Should never have gone to court.

Should police officers get more support. Perhaps not release name until after trial or inquiry.

No, I don't believe any adult defendants should be treated differently to others in this way.

He wasn't armed and from the footage no one was in imminent danger. The officer who shot him stood in front of the car and shot him in the head. I thought the police were meant to disarm people, not kill them.

Basically there were riots and protests after a man Chris Kabawas shot by an armed police officer.

There were protests, no riots. Basically.

I live in the area.

It is hugely unfortunate, tragic, that he was shot dead given that he was found to be unarmed. However understandable or mistaken in the circs.

It is exasperating that Chris Kaba will now be a hero in gang culture.

He was the alleged gunman in a shooting earlier https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/dancefloor-shooting-hackney-east-london-b1152735.html and the car he was driving had been involved in a firearms incident in Brixton the night before. Young people my Ds and his friends knew had their lives ruined or seriously impacted by the local gang activities of Kaba and co. They make life dangerous for young people: postcode wars, gang violence, co-ercing them into dealing etc. When the seige happened and his name was released all the young men in my (successful, law abiding, peaceful) son’s networks knew who he was, what he did and what he was involved in.

We have to have accountability, we cannot have police or anyone else shooting unlawfully. I wasn’t in court and didn’t see the close up videos or hear the full evidence, but trust the jury made the right decision.

But had the officer been found guilty or not guilty, either way Kaba will be held up as a martyr / hero by many people, and this is not good. Whatever happened, I wish the seige could have been ended without his death - to avoid another senseless death and to avoid the fact that this could make it even harder for the police to do their job.

Agreed the correct decision.

What planet do you live on? He tried to ram his way out of the situation with a large, dangerous weapon (his vehicle) not giving a shit who was in his way. Had the officer he nearly dragged between two cars been fatally injured, people would be calling for harsher action to have been taken.

All this “accountability” (I say loosely) is not putting police officers in their place, it’s empowering criminals.

Correct decision and imo, no defendants should have their name released for any crime before they are found guilty - least of all police officers or soldiers who are doing their job.

Great news. How that came to trial I’ll never know

Very pleased with this decision. Feel very sorry for what this police officer has gone through.

Can you imagine if police didn't stop him and he drove off at speed and killed a member of the public. They'd be uproar blaming the police for not stopping him. Dammed if they do dammed if they don't.

Unfortunately we need armed police officers, but who would want to be one after this?