http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/7324175.stm
In brief: guy on whatever drugs with a record of psychotic behaviour is chased down by police, surrounded and then shot 6 times at point blank range.
A jury has decided in an 8-1 vote that the police actions were justified.
However, the way I see it, a few questions remain both unasked and unanswered:
- As the trained-armed-police officers had Simon Murden completely surrounded, how was it possible for them not to notice that he was not carrying a gun? I can only assume that the BBC news storties that reported him wielding a gun were based on police reports?
- Given that Mr Murden was on foot and at very best only able to approach the police at a running speed, why did the marksmen wait until he was at point black range before taking sufficient action? I.e. plastic bullets were used, didn't work and yet it was only when Mr Murden was at point blank range that live ammunition was used.
- Why did the police fire all 6 rounds into Mr Murden's chest? Just one round into his legs would surely have been enough to render him safe?
Having heard what evidence was given on the BBC News channels, why were none of the above questions ever asked?
The impression given, and I hope it is not the case, that the BBC News were not reporting in a truly indepenent way and were either in cahoots with the police, or were too scared to ask the questions.
This handling of this incident by the BBC and the police is deeply worrying in a free and democratic society.
No comments:
Post a Comment