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.

He wasn't held on remand, he was suspended on full pay.

Glad the police are back in everyone's good books. Memories are indeed short but there we go.

You answered whether or not you thought that their lives would matter more if they were civilians surrounding the car that was being revved and driven backwards and forwards aggressively instead of police officers? I must have missed that because I can’t see it?

The issue isn’t that he was black, it was that he was a criminal who had been involved in numerous gun offences. Not sure why you’re trying to conflate the two things?

Do police officers deserve to die at the hands of criminals?

This. Not the innocent little boy that some would have you believe. Also did time fir violence with a fake firearm. He made his life choices.

Quite. Do innocent people also deserve to die at the hands of criminals?

How would you feel if this criminal was in your neighbourhood revving his car into your car and house and police are nowhere in sight.

It was unfortunate what happened to him but there is that old saying about swords

This is getting very repetitive. The police didn't know he was in the car, so they wouldn't know his background. The car was linked to an alleged shooting a few days earlier but the car wasn't registered to him.

Ah yes people are either against or with the police, no nuance at all.

He didn't have a gun that day, but he was no stranger to them. He played all the silly games, and eventually won the silly prize.

Not executed, lawfully killed.

And the world is an ever so slightly better place with one less violent scumbag in it.

You must be struggling to walk straight that chip on your shoulder.

He was blocked in by the police. He drove backwards and hit a police car, he drove forwards and hit a police car. He wasn't driving at speed. He was stationary when he was shot.

The reason he was in the position he was was because he was in a police block so your questions about civilians are irrelevant.

The police didn't know who he was when they stopped him, so they wouldn't have known of any previous offences.

It's laughable that you think police racism isn't an issue when it's been found to be institutional.

Fully granted his behavior was suspicious and dangerous, but 1) there were other options and 2) if he was a white man, high probability he would not have been shot dead quite so rapidly. The day we accept this is alright from our armed police without them facing serious scrutiny is a shit day.

Ooh chip on your shoulder, straight from the racist's handbook. Bit of a cliche though.

Standing in front of someone and shooting them in the head is an execution.

The police didn't know who he was when they shot him.

Wayne Cousins doesn’t mean Martin Blake is guilty. Just like Colin Blakelock doesn’t mean the Met officers who strip searched Hackney schoolgirls are ok.

Yes the Met had serious issues within its culture, that doesn’t discredit every action they take.

So you think he shouldn’t have been stopped because the car that had been linked to a murder days previous wasn’t registered to him? This may come as a shock to you but most perpetrators of serious crimes don’t commit crimes in cars that are registered to them. The likelihood is however, if they’re driving the car they will either have connections or knowledge about the gangs that commit said crimes and chances are they are directly involved themselves often. Which it looks as though from the news report that followed is exactly what happened. The police usually work using detective skills and intelligence not just funny little hunches. That means that they will be aware of how crime gangs operate which gave them plausible reason to pull him. He chose to behave in a way that threatened multiple people’s lives when he was as confronted and warned by armed police. If he had cooperated he would still be alive.

You have very little understanding of how this works. Who he is, is not relevant.

A car linked to a shooting needs to be stopped. There is a reasonable risk that the car may contain a firearm, or that a firearm might be about the person of the occupant, so armed police are deployed.

The occupant disobeys clear instructions and puts the officer in fear of loss of life. That's it, end of story.

You attack a regular police officer, you get the batton or the gas. You attack armed police with a car, you get slotted center mass.

It's possible to believe (which I do) that the Met is institutionally racist with a hell of a lot of work to do, while also understanding that everything was done by the book here.

The day we accept this is alright from our armed police without them facing serious scrutiny is a shit day.

But he has faced serious scrutiny, and was cleared by a jury who voted unanimously not guilty.

You need to watch the footage. It's important if you want to talk about it.

Of course he should have stopped. He didn't threaten any lives and was stationary when he was shot.

The point being, the police knew nothing about his background when they killed him and there were no weapons in the car. The incident re the car was a few days previously.

I didn’t say once he was driving at speed. Why do you insist on repeating this like it’s relevant? He was a criminal who displayed threatening behaviour whilst being in a car linked to a murder. End of story.

He was in a car linked to a recent shooting. This means that it was reasonable for the police to stop the car, reasonable for them to call in armed response, and reasonable for them to believe that there might well still be firearms in the car. They did not know who the driver was. But he refused to comply with police instructions, and based on the videos was ramming his car backwards and forward, in blatant disregard of the safety of the police officers at best, trying to harm them at worst. And there was reasonable reason to believe he had access to a firearm. I believe the police of most countries of the world would have shot at that point.

Well that’s happened, hasn’t it?

What more serious scrutiny can there be than a murder trial?

Dangerously complex thinking there!

This is like Jackanory and people are just making stuff up.

No one attacked the police, he didn't drive at any police officers or hit any police officers. He wasn't aggressive and didn't say anything.

Who he is is important when people are saying that he had previous convictions. The police didn't know who he was ergo they wouldn't have known of any previous convictions.

The alleged incident was a few days earlier re the firearms.

We don't have the same faith in the police given the footage.

I'm black, before you go down that route.

Standing in front of someone and shooting them in the head is how armed police are trained to engage when they have to open fire. Center mass or head within a certain range. There's no 'shooting to disarm' or shooting the tires/engine, it's not a movie. The officer shot him to kill him.

Calling it an 'execution' because you think that sounds harsher is a bit daft.

Because the police officer who shot him said he was driving at speed. Therefore danger to life was imminent. He wasn't threatening, he just tried to drive away.