Sovereignty of SeaWitch

On July 22, a 27 year old Brazilian man living in London was shot 8 times by the London police.

This statement is enough to make many people rush to judgement and condemn the London police force as barbaric and trigger-happy for killing an innocent man but was that the case? Did Jean Charles de Menezes deserve to die like that? Of course not. But this wasn't an example of a young man taking a walk and several policemen deciding arbitrarily to stalk him and then shoot him because they had nothing better to do for the day. Other factors came into play that day which may not completely justify the shooting but may somewhat lessen the abject horrific reaction to his death.

As the facts emerge surrounding the incident, we are informed that he had been living in the same block of flats that was being monitored by police linked to the fail bombing attempts the day earlier. He was wearing an unseasonal overcoat which seemed more than just a bit odd on a hot summer's day in London. After he left his flat, he was trailed by police to the Stockewell tube station...a journey of about 15 minutes. If the police were, indeed, trigger-happy, they no doubt would have shot him as he left his flat but they didn't. They waited. Once inside the tube station, he started running and failed to heed officer's warnings to stop. Witnesses at the scene have said he jumped the ticket barriers, ran down the escalator and attempted to board the train with more than 20 officers in pursuit.

Consider this:

1. You are a police officer trying to prevent further terrorist attacks in the wake of fatal attacks 2 weeks prior in the same location.
2. You knew another attack was being planned. (the very next day another 4 bombers did attempt that very thing)
3. You then saw an individual exhibiting overtly suspicious behaviour as mentioned above.

Would you be led to believe he was capable of committing a bombing attack? If yes, what would you do? Wait to see if he actually would blow up the train and then shoot? Shoot him in the leg while he used his hands to detonate the bombs strapped to him? Those were probably the questions that ran through each and every one of those police officers' minds but unlike you, they didn't have the luxury of 5 days in the comfort of your living room miles away to contemplate them.

Hindsight is always 20/20 vision. Armed with the information known after the fact, it's quite easy to judge someone's actions. Making split decisions are difficult even without having the added stress of a crisis situation. How many of us would be so calm and rational if we suddenly found an intruder in our house in a high-crime neighbourhood? Many will say that this isn't a fair comparison because police are trained to be rational and calm in stressful situations. While this is true, we also must ask ourselves if we really would have wanted them to hesitate if Mr. Menezes had been one of the 8 other bombers who did carry out their attacks? In a world where suicide bombers are becoming a daily occurrence, would you really want them to wait that one second which could be the difference between life or death for thousands of others?

As unfortunate and truly tragic Mr. Menezes' death was, I cannot say the London police force acted inhumanly. Mr. Menezes was partially responsible for his own fate. Had he stopped running and heeded the officers' instructions, this distressing event would have had a much better outcome.