The Ultimate Loss of Civil Liberties: Innocent Man Shot Dead in UK

In summary, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian man shot dead by police in London, expressed anger and disbelief at the incident. The police, who were hunting the suspects of an attempted bomb attack, expressed regret and admitted the killing was a tragedy. There are arguments on both sides regarding the use of deadly force, but in this particular case, it is clear that the man was already immobilized and shooting him was not justifiable. Questions have been raised about why he ran and why he was wearing a winter coat in the summer, but it is confirmed that he had no connection to terrorism. The confusion and chaos of the situation likely led to his decision to run from the armed men, who he did not know were police
  • #351
Special Forces are way more clean than that! If he was a SF hit, we wouldn't know about it, don't remeber all the Irish who "vanished" into thin air during the IRA campaigns?
I also remember the Gibraltar shootings.

It is criminally amateurish to allow a terrorist suspect alive into a railway station filled by civilians.
There are only two options:
1) Either accept that the ones in the operation were inept amateurs who should be dismissed immmediately from the forces
2) That they were more thrilled at chasing the fellow than protecting the general public, in which case they also should be dismissed summarily.
This is easy to say and very shallow :frown:

Perhaps if we were all gifted with hindsight we would have done things differently.

If the victim had turned out to be a terrorist there'd be a different tune playing.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #352
There were never any good reasons to regard him as a terrorist.
 
  • #353
There were never any good reasons to regard him as a terrorist.
I can't comment on that. All I've got to go on is the press and public statements and I never trust any of them without some sort of collaboration from a neutral source.
 
  • #354
Yes you do; don't go about lying. You have gobbled up the version given by the police and believes that to be true.
 
  • #355
Daminc said:
If the victim had turned out to be a terrorist there'd be a different tune playing.

If the victim had turned out to be a terrorist he has been detonated plenty of time before he gets shot
 
  • #356
There were never any good reasons to regard him as a terrorist.

Well, I am a good friend of Daminc, and I'm well versed in "security issues".

After an attack like that, against our civilian transport system, you have to think on your feet. If someone was followed for security reasons (who had false documentation) and was stopped and challenged by armed security forces, and then tried to evade them by running directly towards the underground that was previously attacked, then you HAVE to assume that that person is a significant threat to security and should be dealt with accordingly.

They were far from "sloppy" in the way that they dealt with that person, if you consider that IF he had a bomb, they WOULD have stopped him from detonating it.
 
  • #357
That was my mate Si :)
 
  • #358
What just happened?
 
  • #359
Daminc said:
Well, I am a good friend of Daminc, and I'm well versed in "security issues".

After an attack like that, against our civilian transport system, you have to think on your feet.
Which is what did not happen here.
If someone was followed for security reasons
Who should have been stopped way before, precisely due to security reasons.
(who had false documentation)
Yes, I perfectly understand you regard this as adequate reason for execution.
challenged by armed security forces
There is no evidence that he ever was challenged.

They were far from "sloppy" in the way that they dealt with that person, if you consider that IF he had a bomb, they WOULD have stopped him from detonating it.
If he had had a bomb, he would have detonated it way before within the railway station where he simply should not have let him in; there were more than enough officers and time to block his entrance, if their goal had been to protect the general public.
It wasn't, their goal was to experience the thrill of the chase, and gain a promotion.
 
  • #360
Yes you do; don't go about lying. You have gobbled up the version given by the police and believes that to be true.
Why are you calling me a liar? I meant exactly what I said. I was in the military once and I've trained in simulations of similar events. Have you had any professional experience?

If the victim had turned out to be a terrorist he has been detonated plenty of time before he gets shot
Maybe, maybe not. Looking from a pursuers point of view it may have seen like he is trying to get to a designated target point. Also, fear does strange things to a persons thinking. A terrorist might have panicedand ran for it. Personally if an armed sucurity force challenged me I would stick my hands up and do exactly what they told me to do...wouldn't you? Then again if I'd have something to hide I might run.
 
  • #361
Yes, you would dearly like to think that De Menzes deserved what he got, don't you?
 
  • #362
Yes, you would dearly like to think that De Menzes deserved what he got, don't you?
No, I never said that. It is very unfortunate that he got killed and I sympathise greatly with his family. I just understand how it could happen and how the stk policy is the necessary tactic to tackle this type of attack.
 
  • #363
what should be done with killer cops
do they now have a license to kill WITHOUT any care

at a minimum they should be fired least they kill again
better would be for them charged with manslauter or murder
but oops that's the policy just is not acceptable
better their leaders should be charged also
as the policy is WRONG
but some how leaders are never acountable for bad policys
 
  • #364
Yes, trigger-happy murderers of innocents who lie through their teeth in the aftermath as to what happened have no place within the police force, but they do have a place behind prison bars.
 
  • #365
Consider an alternative senario:

Security teams are dotted all over the place and are in touch with a central control area.

One of the teams notices a person leaving a building that they are watching and reports it into control.

Control tasks the team to follow and observe.

The person then gets on a bus and the team follows.

The bus is heading towards the underground and the team report this.

Control issues a pick-up order.

As the person leaves the bus the team moves into apprehend the suspect.

The suspect thinking that these people are after him for and entirely different reason panics and runs. Unfortunatly directly towards the underground.

The team reports this and are issued with the command to prevent the suspect from entering the tube at all costs thinking that the suspect is running because he's a terrorist.

The team intercepts the suspect and kills him in a manner that would prevent him from detonating any explosives should he have any armed.


It's something to think about at least.
 
Last edited:
  • #366
what should be done with killer cops
do they now have a license to kill WITHOUT any care

at a minimum they should be fired least they kill again
better would be for them charged with manslauter or murder
but oops that's the policy just is not acceptable
better their leaders should be charged also
as the policy is WRONG
but some how leaders are never acountable for bad policys

Yes, trigger-happy murderers of innocents who lie through their teeth in the aftermath as to what happened have no place within the police force, but they do have a place behind prison bars.

Just how old are you two?
 
  • #367
Daminc said:
Consider an alternative senario:

Security teams are dotted all over the place and are in touch with a central control area.
In a completely disorganized manner, wholly inappropriate to prevent any terrorist from actually entering the subway.

One of the teams notices a person leaving a building that they are watching and reports it into control.
And why had they not been given instructions to approach suspicious persons in order to prevent these to get into crowded areas?

Control tasks the team to follow and observe.
Incompetence on control level.

The person then gets on a bus and the team follows.
Why did not any enter that bus along with the suspect, or if they did, allow him to leave the bus unchallenged?

Control issues a pick-up order.
Incompetently late.
Why were the other forces so incompetently distributed that on the 20-min bus ride, they could converge upon the subway and take up better positions?



The team intercepts the suspect and kills him in a manner that would prevent him from detonating any explosives should he have any armed.
The police jumps on him and pins him to the ground; in their excitedness, they fail to notice that
a) the suspect's face is stark with TERROR, rather than ANGRY FRUSTRATION
b) That he makes no attempt to move his arms towards any suspicious region on his body

and then they ejaculated their bullets into poor De Menzes' head in a frenzied "caught a bad guy"-orgasm.
 
Last edited:
  • #368
Obviously, there is no point having a reasonable discussion with you.

You watched some stuff on TV and you've jumped to conclusions without considering any alternatives. I don't know what your problem is but I think you have sqome serious issues to deal with:

then they ejaculated their bullets into poor De Menzes' head in a frenzied "caught a bad guy"-orgasm.
WTF, you've got a sick imagination.
 
  • #369
Daminc said:
WTF, you've got a sick imagination.
No, it was the execution of De Menzes that was sick.
There is no point in trying to regard it as anything else than the thoroughly scandalous end result of extremely shoddy police work.
 
  • #370
We've got two, or maybe three threads about this shooting. Did you see that 700 people were killed in India by the monsoons? They suffered and died, their families grieved, parents lost children, children were orphaned, and we're still spouting about something that happened a week ago.

Occasionally police shoot the wrong person. It happens. It shows that police like everyone else are imperfect. Get over it.
 
  • #371
Obviously, there is no point having a reasonable discussion with you.
My point still stands.

Your 'Master's degree fluid mechanics ' implies that you are quite smart and have an analytical mind however I see no evidence of this in your previous statements which is a shame.
 
  • #372
Did you see that 700 people were killed in India by the monsoons?
I wonder how bad it's going to get...globally I mean. Our weather patterns are getting seriously scr*wed and what we think of as extreme weather is getting more commonplace.
 
  • #373
selfAdjoint said:
Occasionally police shoot the wrong person. It happens. It shows that police like everyone else are imperfect. Get over it.
Why are you so eager, so anxious, to abandon every sort of sound principle of investigation concerning violent deaths if the perpetrator happens to be a member of the police force rather than a "regular bad guy"?

In particular, why do you choose to immediately gobble up as truth the version of events given by those who have the strongest, vested interest in having their version believed to be true?

In this case this is the police; they have extremely strong personal reasons for wanting the public to believe in their version of events.
 
  • #374
Why are you so eager, so anxious, to abandon every sort of sound principle of investigation concerning violent deaths if the perpetrator happens to be a member of the police force rather than a "regular bad guy"?

In particular, why do you choose to immediately gobble up as truth the version of events given by those who have the strongest, vested interest in having their version believed to be true?

In this case this is the police; they have extremely strong personal reasons for wanting the public to believe in their version of events.

See what I mean selfAdjoint. Totally unreasonable :(
 
  • #375
Nope.
You are the ones who want to treat killings by police as something totally different from other forms of killing, without giving any sort of justification for that.
 
  • #376
without giving any sort of justification for that.
I gave possible reasons for why it happened, it's not about justifying it it's about trying to understand why it happened and then try and learn from it.

Throwing venom and accusations around helps no-one and is pointless.
 
  • #377
Daminc said:
Consider an alternative senario:

Security teams are dotted all over the place and are in touch with a central control area.

One of the teams notices a person leaving a building that they are watching and reports it into control.

Control tasks the team to follow and observe.

The person then gets on a bus and the team follows.

The bus is heading towards the underground and the team report this.

Control issues a pick-up order.

As the person leaves the bus the team moves into apprehend the suspect.

The suspect thinking that these people are after him for and entirely different reason panics and runs. Unfortunatly directly towards the underground.

The team reports this and are issued with the command to prevent the suspect from entering the tube at all costs thinking that the suspect is running because he's a terrorist.

The team intercepts the suspect and kills him in a manner that would prevent him from detonating any explosives should he have any armed.


It's something to think about at least.
All well and good, until you raise the question of why some kind of central control would spend resource on an unidentified man and, ultimately, allow terminal action without any evidence of wrongdoing? Your outline suggests what we have already seen: it is a system ripe for failure, abuse and tragedy.
 
  • #378
Your stated reasons are based upon the basic assumption that the version of the events given by the police is an accurate account.
Several by-standers have contradicted numerous features of the official version; in a standard course of investigation, their version of events would have been regarded as in principle more reliable than that version given by individuals with strong, personal interest in being believed to have given a true account (i.e, the police officers).

Again, why has such a standard, well-used principle been abandoned in this case?
 
  • #379
selfAdjoint said:
We've got two, or maybe three threads about this shooting. Did you see that 700 people were killed in India by the monsoons? They suffered and died, their families grieved, parents lost children, children were orphaned, and we're still spouting about something that happened a week ago.
It is tragically upsetting. However, this is a tragedy without blame. This thread is about loss of civil rights, not loss of life in general. You could start a monsoon thread if you like. The length of time that this thread has gone on is a reflection of how important it is to people. It does not mean they've lost perspective. It would be a waste of time to compare every major event to every non-related major event.
 
  • #380
selfAdjoint said:
We've got two, or maybe three threads about this shooting. Did you see that 700 people were killed in India by the monsoons? They suffered and died, their families grieved, parents lost children, children were orphaned, and we're still spouting about something that happened a week ago.

Occasionally police shoot the wrong person. It happens. It shows that police like everyone else are imperfect. Get over it.
Also, you don't live here (the UK). Some of us do. Forgive us if we find it slightly harder to 'get over it' than you do.
 
  • #381
Burnsys said:
If the victim had turned out to be a terrorist he has been detonated plenty of time before he gets shot

Terrorists are given opportunity to remove their clothes and be visible in only their underpants:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4727975.stm

Today's terrorists know they have 'human', rights.

Something they clearly do not give innocent Humans.

Quite laughable that this terrorist was demanding to remain clothed at the moment of his arrest, does he think being paraded in his underpants is in-human!
 
  • #382
selfAdjoint said:
We've got two, or maybe three threads about this shooting. Did you see that 700 people were killed in India by the monsoons? They suffered and died, their families grieved, parents lost children, children were orphaned, and we're still spouting about something that happened a week ago.

Oh come on! People will discuss what they want to discuss. If you want to discuss the (terrible casualties) caused by the (horrific) monsoons, nobody's going to stop you. As soon as a topic loses interest, it drops off the bottom of the board anyway, no harm done.



Hombre, where are you at?
 
Last edited:
  • #383
Your stated reasons are based upon the basic assumption that the version of the events given by the police is an accurate account.
Several by-standers have contradicted numerous features of the official version; in a standard course of investigation, their version of events would have been regarded as in principle more reliable than that version given by individuals with strong, personal interest in being believed to have given a true account (i.e, the police officers).
That's a fair comment I suppose but a suprised witness is one of the most unreliable witnesses possible. The chances are that if you interviewed every civilian witness a vast majority of them would have something different (or perhaps even contridictory) to say.

However, on the other hand, police are trained observers.

I find this easier to believe than go into an instant conspiracy theory without any cause to. If the circumstances change, new evidence comes to light or whatever then I'm always willing to reevaluate the situation but in the meantime I'll make a logical analysis bases on what I know at this moment in time.
 
Last edited:
  • #384
brewnog said:
Oh come on! People will discuss what they want to discuss. If you want to discuss the (terrible casualties) caused by the (horrific) monsoons, nobody's going to stop you. As soon as a topic loses interest, it drops off the bottom of the board anyway, no harm done.



Hombre, where are you at?
I live in Durham at the moment, working in Newcastle, but I hail from Shrewsbury.
 
  • #385
Daminc said:
That's a fair comment I suppose but a suprised witness is one of the most unreliable witnesses possible. The chances are that if you interviewed every civilian witness a vast majority of them would have something different (or perhaps even contridictory) to say.

However, on the other hand, police are trained observers.

The police are also aware that anything they say is subject to intense scrutiny, and is likely to be taken as evidence to be used against them in court in any subsequent police or independent enquiry. It's not in their interests (as single officers) to lie, particularly if there are dozens of eyewitnesses, and the possibility of CCTV. Casual interviews with people claiming to be eyewitnesses don't provide courtworthy evidence.
 
Back
Top