Screwed The Pooch?

Good grief. This story is bad news.

LONDON — A Brazilian shot to death a day after botched bombings in London had walked casually onto a train before being gunned down by undercover officers, according to leaked footage that appeared to contradict earlier police reports that said the man disobeyed police orders.

Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot eight times last month in front of terrified commuters on a subway train, after undercover police tailed him from a house under surveillance.

Police first said the shooting was related to the failed bombings on the London transit system July 21 — two weeks after four suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in three Underground stations and aboard one double-decker bus.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, called the death regrettable," but said it appeared "the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions."

Citing security footage, a British television station reported Tuesday that Menezes entered the Stockwell subway station at a normal walking pace, stopping to pick up a newspaper before boarding a train and taking a seat.

The ITV News broadcast, citing an investigation report into the shooting, also said Menezes was wearing a light denim jacket when he was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.

Witness reports described a terrifying scene of the man — wearing a bulky jacket on a warm July day — running through the train station, being tackled by a group of undercover police officers, then being shot several times at close range.

Now ladies and gentlemen, I'll tell you for a fact that I'd have looked strangely at a guy wearing any kind of jacket in London in July, but this is really horrible. If this report is correct, and not some faked footage (which is possible, but really doubtful), then the London police basically have no excuse. I'm less worried about the shooting itself; everyone was keyed up at that point, and if they thought that he posed a legitimate threat, then that's that. But they lied about it? When you pull something like that, you lose any remaining trace of credibility.

I'll say this, though. In any tube statin, there are going to be witnesses. There's no such thing as an empty train on the Underground, and there are always people around there. If the guy was wearing a light denim jacket, didn't jump the turnstile, didn't run for the train, and the police shot an inconspicuous man who was already seated on the train, then why haven't we heard this other side of the story from eyewitnesses in the Tube station? If you think that the British police can suppress a story like this for a month, you're not paying attention.

I'm skeptical of this story, but if it's true, the British police are in big, big trouble.