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I am turning into an evil old lady

(84 Posts)
luckyrose62 Fri 12-Jul-19 12:16:05

When I heard the news regarding the poor guy that got shot mistakenly by police 7 years ago. All I could think was well that’s one less crook off the streets.
Not a nice thought but cannot help myself I just feel sorry for the policeman that mistakenly shot him.
I really don’t want to be a bitter old lady but I cannot help myself

cupcake1 Sat 13-Jul-19 11:06:42

The judicial system here is too soft and even at extra cost to taxpayers there should be lengthier sentences commensurate with the crime. I worked for 35 years within that environment and have seen so many injustices to the victims of crime not the perpetrators so no, I will not be losing any sleep over it.

Nanniejc1 Sat 13-Jul-19 11:00:22

I also feel really sorry for the policeman who did it,he was only following orders ,hopefully he won’t be singled out & charged.

Nanniejc1 Sat 13-Jul-19 10:57:57

Luckyrose62 I feel the same as you & I also think that all paedophiles & people who prey on children should be castrated.

kircubbin2000 Sat 13-Jul-19 10:43:49

I have just deleted a lot of my Facebook comments as my daughter said they were mean and pedantic!

ReadyMeals Sat 13-Jul-19 10:38:21

It's not my first thought, first I need to read enough to be clear in my own mind that the dead person really was a danger to other people. If I am satisfied of that then I think good another thug off the streets. Otherwise I think it's a shame that a life was wasted.

maddyone Sat 13-Jul-19 10:35:40

Luckyrose, please don’t think badly of yourself. Read the second paragraph of Ellan’s response of 13.02 and annepl’s when she says we’re only human. It could be viewed as a natural reaction really, especially when you have been a victim of crime yourself. Just try to remember that as several posters have said, we live by the rule of law. It is for the law to sort things out.

I actually feel very sorry for the policeman who shot him. He has to live with that for the rest of his life. To kill someone, even accidentally, must be a terrible thing, it’s a life long sentence of ‘what ifs.’

Johno Sat 13-Jul-19 10:03:26

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EllanVannin Sat 13-Jul-19 09:30:39

Ask yourselves what we'd have done in the same situation !!

lovebeigecardigans1955 Sat 13-Jul-19 09:09:16

When we look at the wider world it seems to be such an evil place and no-one could blame you for thinking that. "Serves him right." If you work in the police force you see these things at closer quarters so it's perfectly understandable. I don't know how they keep their faith in humanity when the bad stuff is under their noses. We can only hope that the good outweighs the bad, by and large.

Eloethan Sat 13-Jul-19 08:59:42

My understanding is the investigation found the whole operation to be completely mismanaged and thoroughly incompetent. The police officer who shot the man was, it is said, acting on information that the victim was armed, so it appears he is not individually to blame.

Criminals deserve punishment (and a chance to rehabilitate) and to be imprisoned if their crimes involve violence but I don't believe even the worst rogue should be shot, unless he is armed and is poised to harm someone. This man was, as I understand it, in a car and he was not armed.

In the case of a violent criminal who is killed because he/she did pose a direct threat to others, I would not mourn but I would not celebrate it either.

Grammaretto Sat 13-Jul-19 08:32:51

What I hate is that the mega criminals get away with murder/genocide while poor individual victims get no justice.
But please don't read the daily mail! It feeds your dark side.

sodapop Sat 13-Jul-19 08:29:13

I quite agree Peonyrose we can't arm the police then vilify them when someone is shot.
Of course there is scrutiny of the incident to see if it was preventable and to learn from it.
The police are damned if they do and damned if they don't it seems.

Peonyrose Sat 13-Jul-19 07:55:56

Every week in my newspaper there are reports of violent attacks, people are helpless watching this escalation of crimes here they live.

Jane10 Sat 13-Jul-19 07:50:19

Peonyrose- I entirely agree with you ?

Peonyrose Sat 13-Jul-19 07:47:36

I am just the opposite. As I have aged I cry and worry more easily at injustice, always look for reasons for an action. You don't know the full story of that shooting. I would think the policeman is traumatised, it's a split second decision in heightened circumstances. He has to live with that. He us most likely a family man and they are not issued with guns except in exceptional circumstances. The victims family know the victim as a loved member of their family, or he could never have been loved and had been homeless, an addict or mentally ill. As for your initial gut reaction, I would think a lot of people would act that way, but when you thought about it come to a different conclusion. That us why it is so difficult for our security forces, they have a make split second decision and there will be fierce scrutiny of their move afterwards.

Gonegirl Fri 12-Jul-19 21:39:08

Now that little black kid in America, shot because he was waving a toy gun. That's heart breaking.

Gonegirl Fri 12-Jul-19 21:37:14

Just don't find myself welling up over it.

M0nica Fri 12-Jul-19 21:26:29

Ellen read the summary of the conclusions the judge reached at the end of the enquiry. I put them in my last post. He made it clear that there was no evidence he would use gun, or that he had access to one.

There are plenty of petty criminals in the UK, the vast majority of whom would no more risk using a gun than fly. You cannot assume just because someone commits a minor crime they can be shot because they might have a gun.

Blinko Fri 12-Jul-19 21:18:05

Not exactly squeaky clean was he ?

True enough. But the penalty for driving a stolen car is not yet to be shot and killed.

EllanVannin Fri 12-Jul-19 21:11:17

The man was driving a stolen car. How was the police officer to know that Grainger hadn't been armed given that a robbery had been planned using the Audi-----a favourite car of criminals.

What was he doing with a stolen car anyway ? Not exactly squeaky clean was he ?

M0nica Fri 12-Jul-19 20:42:35

Gonegirl the reason the police officer thought he had a gun was because the raid on him was ill prepared on inadequate information, which was later proven to be entirely wrong.

Read the inquiry report.

A police force was to blame for the fatal shooting of an unarmed man, a public inquiry has concluded. A judge said the shooting was legally justified, but said the operation had been organised and planned "incompetently". Senior officers "failed to authorise, plan or conduct the firearms operation in such a way as to minimise recourse to the use of lethal force"

The officer who shot him told the inquiry he fired as he thought Mr Grainger had reached down to pick up a firearm. The judge said the officer,"honestly but mistakenly believed Mr Grainger was reaching for a gun". He jumped to that wrong conclusion because of the "misleading way his superiors had briefed him beforehand", according to Judge.

The judge said if firearms commanders had planned, briefed and conducted the deployment competently, Q9 "would have been less likely to misinterpret Mr Grainger's actions and might not have shot him".

All the responsibility for this killing lies entirely with the police.

annep1 Fri 12-Jul-19 20:21:49

Well put Parsley3

Jane10 Fri 12-Jul-19 19:08:25

Anniebach I was talking about on the street shooting.

GracesGranMK3 Fri 12-Jul-19 19:01:30

I have to agree with M0nica Fri 12-Jul-19 16:12:59

Having agree I do feel your thoughts were pretty vicious ones towards the poor man and his family luckyrose62

Anniebach Fri 12-Jul-19 18:47:05

Jane10 when was a police officer ever charged with a death ? What about Ian Tomlinson?

The many who have died in police custody?