From what I understand is they were Special Forces. Not regular London cops. But they had shoot to kill orders that were all over the news. There was some fair warning that officers will be searching for anyone suspicious with orders to shoot to kill. Everyone makes mistakes but its not a good idea to run like that after what happened so recently. And with armed men with shoot to kill orders on the street. Everyone is young and stupid at one time or another. We have all been there. But it can cost you allot.
Looking at the news tonight it was new scotland yard who made the apology, but from some of the hardware that I saw the billys carrying, I would think that maybe it was some sort of special forces, or SWAT team equivalent. My local news station said that the guy was a Brazillian illegal immigrant, and could not speak any english, so maybe he didn't understand what the billys were saying, which just goes to prove that everyone needs to be able to communicate.
Totally. If you don't understand what they are saying, then why the hell are you running? Since when does one not understanding what is being spoken to him constitute running? Now maybe he didn't understand the word "halt" or something, whatever. He knew where he was, and unless he was deaf dumb and blind, knew what has been going on the past few weeks. Sometimes a little common sense can save your life. Under these circumstances, (and it's going to be this way for some time), I can't fault law enforcement.
