Unprecedented in England

Did England just revert to the Dark Ages? An unprecendented event occurred in London on Friday: British police chased down a frightened, unarmed man until he fell to the ground, then shot five bullets into him as he lay there, killing him instantly. His only offense was that he had emerged from a house they were watching, while wearing more clothing than they thought was appropriate for the weather.

Compared to some events that have occurred in New York, the British actually look better than we Americans. This was no case of police officers mistaking a wallet for a weapon and shooting to kill when they should at worst have aimed to disable. London had just been subjected to two series of suicide bombings. The police had reason to believe that the man they were chasing might have been connected to those bombings. The man could have been carrying a bomb under his coat, he was acting as though he might detonate the bomb at any moment, and nothing short of killing him would ensure that he could not do so. The killing of an innocent man was unfortunate, but under the circumstances it was done according to official policy.

But do you see what has happened? The terrorists succeeded in creating a situation in which the British police were compelled to do what they had never done before (at least not in recent history): hunt down and kill an innocent man in cold blood.