UK - Chris Kaba 21, shot dead by armed officers, now a murder inquiry, London.

[Telltale]

Well I think we can see where Blake's fellow officers' loyalties are:

From the BBC article: In the footage, Mr Kaba can be seen hunched down in the driver's seat with his hands visible.

DS87 can be seen running around to the front of the Audi. When he raised his own semi-automatic carbine, he was standing beside Mr Blake. It was at this point the accused officer shot Mr Kaba.

This officer, who standing beside Blake when he shot Kaba, could slant his statement to back up that decision it's true. But apparently video evidence shows he also raised his gun just as Blake raised and fired at Kaba.

We can't know if he'd have taken the shot. We do know that both officers standing in front of Kaba's car simultaneously took aim at him. Which UK Firearms officers are trained to only do when there is an immediate threat to life.

Personally, I think that identical reaction in the moment, more than any later testimony, lends weight Blake's claim that he reasonably perceived Kaba to be an immediate deadly threat.

Either way, I hope they actually release the footage up to a second before the shooting when this is done. Whatever the outcome.

 

[bobbymkii]

Image shows where Martyn Blake was positioned​

An image released by the CPS this evening shows where Martyn Blake was position with DS87 when he shot Chris Kaba in the forehead.

The marksmen were stood in front of the front windscreen of the Audi Q8 which was stationary at the moment Mr Blake pulled the trigger.

Today his colleague, DS87, said he beleived he may have died if Mr Blake waited a second longer.

Chris Kaba murder trial live as marksman tells jury 'I felt in fear of my life'

The firearms officer stood next to Martyn Blake when he pulled the trigger told jurors he had 'no doubt' he would have been under Chris Kaba's Audi had he waited 'any second longer'

www.mylondon.news

 

[Tortoise]

"Under questioning by Mr Gibbs, he explained that officers do not train with vehicles shunting forwards and backwards, because it is too dangerous.

They are also advised not to go in a specific area at the front of a car called “the triangle of death”."

MSN

 

[Tortoise]

His colleague identified by the cypher DS87 gave his evidence on Friday but was called back to court after a juror sent a note asking if he had been about to take a shot at Mr Kaba and 'if not why not'.

DS87 said: 'The simple answer is yes. At that moment as you may appreciate I've landed and arrived and as my feet settle and I bring my weapon up you see the vehicle already in motion.

'At that point there is no doubt in my mind that the vehicle was going to come forward at any moment.

[...]

Prosecutor Tom Little, KC, asked: 'Was your assessment that if the vehicle had driven forward it would strike you in less than a second?' - 'Yes,' the officer replied.

Colleague of officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba speaks in court

Chris Kaba, 24, was trying to escape police when Martyn Blake, 40, opened fire in Streatham Hill, southwest London , on the evening of September 5, 2022.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

I don't think I've ever seen a trial where literally every single witness the prosecution call up is hostile to their case!

Met Police officers felt 'in danger' before Chris Kaba was shot

Police colleagues of Martyn Blacke, 40 - accused of murdering Chris Kaba in September 2022 - told court they felt 'in danger' before the motorist was shot by the police officer.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

Chris Kaba: Officer truly sorry for necessary shooting - court

A police officer who killed an unarmed man has told the Old Bailey he did it to save his own life.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

The trial was adjourned until Monday, when Blake is expected to give evidence in his defence.

Court told Chris Kaba’s last words: ‘One sec, I think there is police behind me’

Elisha Fizul called the 24-year-old on WhatsApp 10 minutes before he was killed by Martyn Blake during a police stop in Streatham, south London.

www.kentonline.co.uk

 

[Telltale]

I don't think I've ever seen a trial where literally every single witness the prosecution call up is hostile to their case!

Met Police officers felt 'in danger' before Chris Kaba was shot

Police colleagues of Martyn Blacke, 40 - accused of murdering Chris Kaba in September 2022 - told court they felt 'in danger' before the motorist was shot by the police officer.

www.dailymail.co.uk

To play devil's advocate, as far as I am aware, all witnesses so far have been police colleagues. Even without conscious malice, ingroup dynamics and the fact they could all easily imagine being in his shoes, could put a lot of subconscious pressure on them to back him/his reasoning fully.

I wonder if there are any public witnesses? It all appears to have happened very fast, but I remember some of the very early reporting quoted members of the public saying Kaba rammed police vehicles. Though, perhaps they would be superfluous in this instance. Considering the whole thing has to have been recorded on at minimum half a dozen police body cams.

To be clear, I am not saying the police witnesses are unreliable or giving dishonest testimony. Just steel-manning the case against Blake.

As the circumstances are not in dispute, so the prosecutions case seems to come down to convincing the jury that Blake could not reasonably consider Kaba an imminently lethal threat when he took the shot. Which seems a steep hill to climb considering what we have heard so far of the circumstances, and a steeper one when all on scene say they felt in immediate danger and would have also taken the shot.

Unless this video evidence paints a markedly different picture to how it's been described so far. I am struggling to see how this case reached the charging standard for CPS, which is a 'reasonable possibly of conviction.' Hopefully the (appropriately censored) video will be released at the end of this.

 

[bobbymkii]

The only person close to a civilian eyewitness that I've seen is Kaba's friend who was on the phone to him just before the stop. Even if there were I don't think their evidence would be awfully helpful as it was an incident that happened very quickly in the dark with a lot of noise and moving parts. It would have been practically impossible for a witness to have eyes on Blake when he pulled the trigger for example.

If Blake's police colleagues are lying then they have extremely limited scope to do so since most, if not all of them were wearing bodycams (which recorded video even if the wearer didn't "activate" it), their vehicles had dashcams fitted, all of their radio communications were recorded and they even had a helicopter flying above recording everything.

I personally don't think they, or Blake are lying. Any discrepancies between their statements afterwards and what is recorded on video are reasonable human error. They can't be expected to accurately recall every microscopic detail about what must have been a very hectic and stressful situation.

Unless this video evidence paints a markedly different picture to how it's been described so far. I am struggling to see how this case reached the charging standard for CPS, which is a 'reasonable possibly of conviction.' Hopefully the (appropriately censored) video will be released at the end of this.

There are podcasts for this trial from the Daily Mail and one on BBC Sounds. I can't remember which one it was from, but the hosts strongly suggested that video from the shooting will be released "once all of the witnesses have given evidence." So that may even be when the defence rests or they'll wait until after the verdict if they think releasing it might prejudice the jury.

MOO

 

[Telltale]

If Blake's police colleagues are lying then they have extremely limited scope to do so since most, if not all of them were wearing bodycams (which recorded video even if the wearer didn't "activate" it), their vehicles had dashcams fitted, all of their radio communications were recorded and they even had a helicopter flying above recording everything.

I personally don't think they, or Blake are lying. Any discrepancies between their statements afterwards and what is recorded on video are reasonable human error. They can't be expected to accurately recall every microscopic detail about what must have been a very hectic and stressful situation.

MOO

Oh I was not even speculating they could have lied about the events as they occured. That would be stupid and pretty redundant considering the amount of video.

The defence and the prosecution both hinge on Blake's, assesment of the danger and reasonableness of his decision to shoot. So the perspective/mindset/experience of the other officers on scene is key evidence to corroborate or refute Blake's account.

I was suggesting that the circumstances, the dynamics of the team, the feeling of persecution due to the public outcry, the fact any firearms officer could end up in Blake's shoes etc. Could, hypothetically, work to influence that internal aspect of their testimony, say by smoothing out any equivalences or uncertainties that could be used (fairly or unfairly) against Blake. Probably/definitely would have taken the shot, could've been/absolutely felt my life was in danger etc.

I'm not saying that has happened to be clear. Just that I can imagine those sorts of psychological pressures coming into play.

Though, to counter my own point. I believe that after a fatal police shooting, all officers on scene are swiftly separated and initial statements taken. So such considerations wouldn't have had much time to marinate. If their initial statement was markedly different to later testimony prosecution would have no doubt challenged them on the stand.

 

[Tortoise]

Chris Kaba shooting: Officer denies intentionally aiming for head

Martyn Blake tells the jury he did not intend to kill Chris Kaba, only to stop him harming officers.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tortoise]

Interesting prosecution closing speech

Met marksman who shot Chris Kaba accused of concocting 'a fiction'

Martyn Blake fatally shot Mr Kaba, 24, through the windscreen of the Audi in Streatham, south-east London on September 5, 2022.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

In a nutshell, the Crown have only been able to come to the conclusion that Kaba's actions didn't pose a risk to life by analysing the incident over and over again from multiple camera angles from the comfort of an office with the benefit of retrospect. NX121 didn't have that luxury. He's there in the line of fire in actual moment.

Little Casey has had a shocking year. He started the year by bolloxing up the case against Connie claw-clip and Magna Mark leading to a mistrial, now we have him performing mental gymnastics to try and convict an armed police officer for literally doing his job.

If you don't want to get shot by an armed police officer, there's a very simple solution to this potential problem: Dont do stupid **** that will get you shot by an armed police officer. Simple as.

I got bored one night recently and tried to find some footage of Kaba's musical talents with his MOBO award nominated rapping group "67" and I found a music video of a composition named "Bruk it" of which contains the repetitive lyric "F around and get smoked." Very prophetic!

JMO

 

[bobbymkii]

Police marksman who shot Chris Kaba dead ‘no RoboCop’, jurors told

Metropolitan Police officer Martyn Blake is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Mr Kaba’s murder

www.standard.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

Verdict watch is under way:

Jury retires in trial of Met firearms officer accused of murdering Chris Kaba

Prosecutors have alleged the shooting was not ‘not necessary’, but the firearms officer claims he feared for his life

www.independent.co.uk

 

[bobbymkii]

BREAKING: NOT GUILTY

Chris Kaba shooting: Firearms officer not guilty of murder

Martyn Blake is found not guilty of murdering Chris Kaba, who was shot on 5 September 2022.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[wtiger]

least surprising not guilty this year!

 

[bobbymkii]

Body cam video of shooting at approx 5:50. Can't watch it with sound at the moment because I'm at work.

 

[Telltale]

This one has a few more angles which make it a bit easier to makes sense of what's going on.

Blake is only in position for a second or two it seems, which is different to how I imagined, but I can see why the jury found acquittal easy. With the benefit of multiple angles and endless from a nice quiet couch, it still sounds to me like Kaba's car was revving to come barreling forward. From the car telematics it appears he hadn't yet done so. However, it's completely reasonable Blake would make the same judgment, in the split second he had to act in such a fast evolving and dangerous incident.

Sympathy to Kaba's family, as well as Blake and his family. I hope this means everyone can mourn and begin to heal. Kaba may not have been murdered, but he was still a young man who was killed before his time and I am sure is missed by those who loved him.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Metropolitan Police firearms officer, Martyn Blake, was acquitted by a jury at the Old Bailey after around three and a half hours of deliberation on Monday.

Demonstrators held signs that read ‘This is not justice’ as they protested against the acquittal of a police marksman

Mr Kaba’s family said they are “devastated” and feel “the deep pain of injustice”.

Protesters gather after police marksman cleared of Chris Kaba murder

Metropolitan Police firearms officer, Martyn Blake, was acquitted of murder at the Old Bailey on Monday.

www.gazetteherald.co.uk