The Brasilian man who was shot 4 weeks ago at Stockwell Station seems to have been the victim of a series of missed opportunities worthy of the Keystone Kops. This is one of the saddest stories around at the moment. de Menezes did not run from the police, he did not vault the gates, he did not run into the train. He walked into the station, picked up a Metro newspaper, strolled down the escalators, and sat down on the train. An officer subdued him, only to have another officer or officers pump de Menezes full of bullets. Leaks from the independent investigation have been occurring regularly. To top it all off, the police tried to get the independent investigation postponed, thus giving rise to suspicions that evidence was tampered with or lost (accidentally or deliberately). The family’s lawyer meets with the investigators tomorrow. I do hope they hold out for lots of money. Some faint calls for Sir Ian Blair (Metropolitan Police Commissioner) to resign are beginning. This one will roll on and on.
It is dreadful. I think Sir Ian Blair has made a very bad judgement. Right now, as far as the leaked info goes, it doesn’t look good on the police. It tilts me towards believing the terrifying prospect that they had tried to cover things up. All hopes are now rest on the Independent Police Complaints Commission to make sure the facts come out.
Police coverups of official misconduct are a common thread through the police forces of the world. There is a code, weirdly similar to the omerta code of the Mafia, in which officers are discouraged from “ratting” on fellow officers. The investigation will encounter this attitude continuously. Thus, I do not believe that any police officers will stand trial or be demoted or sacked for this official murder. If a coverup at high levels can be proven, however, that’s a different matter as it involves people other than police.
The best outcome I could see out of all this is that Mr. de Menezes’s (and isn’t it interesting that the Radio 4 newsreaders are having a heck of a lot of trouble pronouncing his name) family will receive a huge monetary settlement, and the Met will adjust its shoot-to-kill policy to ensure that only those who are certainly a danger to the public are threatened with it.
If any officers are charged with manslaughter (or even murder) I would be extremely surprised. But I’m willing to be surprised.