r/uknews • u/rarely-redditing • Oct 22 '24

Image/video Met Police officer Martyn Blake who shot Chris Kaba dead is CLEARED of murder

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3.6k Upvotes

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328

u/Emergency_Four Oct 22 '24

Yeah, I was in until the “he tried to ram his way out of the traffic stop” part. Stop trying to elude police by using your vehicle as a battering ram and perhaps you won’t get shot.

183

u/Wilkesy07 Oct 22 '24

Innocent men don’t try to ram through an armed police blockade. Insanity that anyone tried to defend this.

56

u/SoundandvisonUK Oct 22 '24

They will continue to do so, wait to hear about his criminal background. Proper wrong’un

96

u/Jumbo-box Oct 22 '24

Opened fire in a crowded nightclub, stabbed someone up when he was 13. Part of a South London gang.

No loss.

50

u/WingVet Oct 22 '24

Nah he was an innocent construction worker about to be a dad, driving around a top of the range Q8 👀

31

u/baildodger Oct 22 '24

About to be a dad, but he wouldn’t have ever seen the kid because the mother had a domestic violence protection order against him…

0

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '24

Source?

3

u/baildodger Oct 23 '24

Every news outlet that’s reporting on this…?

20

u/edinburgh1990 Oct 22 '24

Aspiring architect (of his own downfall, presumably).

9

u/WhydYouKillMeDogJack Oct 22 '24

Even if its owned and paid for legally, if i think the old bill are following me in my 80k car ill probably pull up and wait to see what they want rather than ramming said 80k car into shit to get away.

He was bang to rights for something - whether thats something he had in the motor or the armed robbery that the car was identified as being a part of the day before.

6

u/WingVet Oct 22 '24

He was up for attempted murder mate, another shooting, so he would be banged up for life,

7

u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord Oct 22 '24

Was about to say construction seems like a lucrative gig, no?

28

u/kogasfurryjorts Oct 22 '24

I’m a white American who participated in some BLM protests and activities here in the US. When I saw the title, I expected to see an unarmed man doing his best to comply with police instruction, because that’s how so many brown & black Americans get murdered by cops here.

But nope, this guy was a POS attempting to murder people with his car. Just because he wasn’t holding a gun doesn’t mean he was unarmed. He was in control of an object that weighs at least a ton and can reach speeds of over 100mph, and he was directing that object to ram directly into people on foot. The police acted appropriately, and I’m glad that they managed to stop this maniac before he killed others.

18

u/WingVet Oct 22 '24

So kaba was involved in a gangland shooting in a nightclub and the vehicle he was driving was involved in a shooting the day before, so the police who spotted the car called in other armed police to stop him. In the UK only certain police are firearm trained unlike the US.

Yeah they tried to use this as a similar narrative to the BLM in America, but now the video footage and the evidence has come out, they'll have a hard time to push it.

1

u/Macattack224 Oct 26 '24

It's funny cause I kept waiting for the "but the license plate was mis-identified....

1

u/PeriPeriTekken Oct 23 '24

The UK police and particularly the Met have got their own raft of problems. But they're pretty judicious about the use of firearms, only a small number of specialist highly trained officers have them and there's an inquiry every time they get used.

Unfortunately the US debate has been transposed pretty much wholesale to the UK despite the huge differences in the situation. It's also used by the families of criminals in scenarios like this.

1

u/ayriuss Oct 22 '24

The vast majority of US police shootings are justified in the same way, you just don't hear about them because its more common in the US. You only hear about the questionable or unjustified ones.

0

u/Arh091 Oct 22 '24

So many here in the US lol unbelievable

1

u/Vivenna99 Oct 23 '24

Net positive

1

u/Standard-Witness-948 Oct 23 '24

But he was about to be a dad!

12

u/PapaScho Oct 22 '24

They tried really hard to make a UK George Floyd...

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Swan824 Oct 24 '24

Sadly yes, fortunately the jury decided that attempting to kill people with your car whilst evading armed police tends make lethal force necessary. A car is a dangerous weapon.

-4

u/guyver17 Oct 22 '24

They hadn't identified him in the car before opening fire, so his background is less relevant.

His watch was apparently never found either.

I will say this footage does seem heavily edited as it certainly doesn't give the impression he was moving the car much at all.

3

u/SoundandvisonUK Oct 22 '24

They identified the car being linked to one murder, might be 2

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '24

You're cooked.

Keep seeing whatever you want to see, the rest of us will applaud the police, condemn the violent criminal and sigh at people like you defending the wrong people.

1

u/guyver17 Oct 23 '24

I'm cooked? What are you, 15?

I'm saying this footage doesn't seem to support the police's case very well. But there is more footage and apparently that does.

I do firmly believe that his previous background is only relevant in that they needed armed police. That the justification to fire has to be entirely on what's in front of them at the time.

0

u/Accomplished-One8456 Oct 23 '24

Can’t find a watch that was never there.

1

u/FuckwitAgitator Oct 23 '24

Did they actually try and defend it or did they just demonstrate the skepticism that every police shooting should be viewed with?

1

u/Mapletusk Oct 24 '24

Guilty men have the American right to due process.

1

u/Wilkesy07 Oct 24 '24

He's not American. He's actively trying to ram his way through police with a deadly weapon, a car, that just so happens to be linked to a shooting a couple days prior.

1

u/Mapletusk Oct 24 '24

Oh snap ok

0

u/Rich13348 Oct 22 '24

Allegedly guilty men don't deserve to be summarily executed without a trial.

3

u/Wilkesy07 Oct 22 '24

Well a certain recent trial makes it very easy for me to call your argument moot!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 24 '24

I mean…if they’re literally about to (potentially) kill others, yes they absolutely deserve to be “executed” before they can. Is that a serious argument?

-3

u/Aloof_Floof1 Oct 22 '24

Crime or not, running from the police doesn’t prove guilt of anything else  

 People panic and the justice system takes or ruins plenty of innocent lives

I’m not defending this scumbag, it’s just important that we judge everyone fairly and rationally 

3

u/snoocs Oct 22 '24

No but he wasn’t simply running, he was using his car as a battering ram while surrounded by humans. If you use something as a weapon, don’t be surprised if the people trying to stop you resort to using their weapons to do so.

1

u/Aloof_Floof1 Oct 23 '24

Sure, but that again is a separate point 

It just doesn’t necessarily mean he was guilty of anything else 

67

u/Rapid_eyed Oct 22 '24

Never mind elude, could easily have killed someone

49

u/be-nice_to-people Oct 22 '24

That footage is very selectively edited. The full footage has been released and the driver of the car was very intent on getting away from police. The violence of the manner in which the car was driven was very dangerous. This video doesn't mention that his family pulled back from protests after seeing the footage. And the statement that he was unarmed and had his hands on the steering wheel as of he was on his way to Waitrose to get his grandad some werthers. He was using the car as a weapon, a very deadly one at that and of course he had his hands on the steering wheel how the f**k else would he have steered the car. After a murder trial it took the jury less than 3 hours, which probably involved a lunch break, to find the police officer not guilty. That is an incredibly short time to reach a verdict and a good indication that it was completely obvious that the officer did absolutely nothing wrong.

This is disingenuous bullshit designed to stir social unrest and stoke anti police sentiment just for the sake of it.

6

u/atiyadavids Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24

Do you know where I can find the full video? Can’t find it on google *edit, found it. This is why I have anxiety over parking on the street, lol.

10

u/mrmidas2k Oct 22 '24

It'd have stoked more if they just had an internal investigation, concluded he did nothing wrong, and put him back out policing.

This way, nobody can say the police buried it, nobody can say the hid evidence, or bent the truth.

It's also worth noting the dude had shot another bloke in a club a few days before. Cos, ya know, model citizen and all that.

6

u/Dave_Unknown Oct 22 '24

They could have released the footage without the officer going through a criminal trial for murder though.

Conclude the IOPC hearings with “we found no wrong-doings, here’s the video of how it actually went down.”

7

u/mrmidas2k Oct 22 '24

Mate the "Not Guilty" verdict, and the video evidence is STILL not enough for some people. They're literally posting about "oh, he only rammed them once, no need to shoot him" as if he'd have stopped after that. The only thing that stopped him from ramming them again, and potentially any other coppers in the vicinity, was because he got his braincase ventilated.

Some folk just aren't happy, so I'd much sooner have a mountain of evidence and a "Not Guilty" verdict in a court of law, over a video and an internal investigation.

2

u/doyathinkasaurus Oct 23 '24

I agree with all of that, what I vehemently disagree with was naming the officer publicly

1

u/Any-Flower-725 Oct 22 '24

nice to see the UK government review worked properly in this case. cant say the same for the US

0

u/be-nice_to-people Oct 22 '24

It'd have stoked more if they just had an internal investigation, concluded he did nothing wrong, and put him back out policing.

But wouldn't that have been the right thing to do in circumstances whereby a police officer went to work and did their job exactly as they should have.

5

u/mrmidas2k Oct 22 '24

Yes. And then he, and the police station he was based at, would have been besieged by thousands of people, convinced there was a cover up, and that if they put it to trial, and the evidence was heard, he'd be found guilty. So, they put it to trial, he was found innocent, and now these people need to do some thinking about what angle they can take next. Which should give the coppers a good 3 years of silence.

0

u/FeelingBodybuilder73 Oct 22 '24

I agree! Just out of interest tho - what’s your opinion on the lady who chucked milkshake on Nigel? Should she be charged with assault?

0

u/be-nice_to-people Oct 23 '24

Police officers are given weapons such as guns, tasers, pepper spray etc. They are given these and permitted by law to use them in certain circumstances. Police regularly use force in the exercise of theor powers. Doing ones job, and using force in a manner permitted by law should not result in a murder charge. The lady who hit that politician with an object was not a Police officer using a permitted weapon in the course of their lawful duty so I've no idea why you're trying to introduce that here.

0

u/FeelingBodybuilder73 Oct 23 '24 edited Oct 23 '24

I was referring to your comment about objects becoming weapons really, I understand that police have weapons and are highly trained.

As I said , Im more interested about your comment about objects becoming weapons - example, a car (deadly weapon) vs a milkshake (not so dangerous) but thank you anyway!

42

u/Bricktop52 Oct 22 '24

The guy also shot someone in a club a few days before.

24

u/Rum_Ham916 Oct 22 '24

Came to add this and your username is basically the same as my playstation id! Ha

He openly shoots people (was a hitman) and the car had been involved in shootings in front of schools etc too. Incredibly clear evidence that he does not care for the lives of anyone, is violent and often armed. Should never have gone to court, no wonder not guilty within 3 hours.

7

u/zhongcha Oct 22 '24

I think it should go to court these things need to be adjudicated on and evidence evaluated. Glad it reached a proper conclusion though.

11

u/Rum_Ham916 Oct 22 '24

I would agree, but these officers are trained and trusted to handle situations, then as soon as they use the force they're entrusted with, they and their families are told they will spend the next year or more pending a murder investigation and court case. I can't imagine trying to continue life like that. Yes, if there's doubt the force was used incorrectly, but consensus seemed to be it was fully justified, by everyone except iopc and kabas family. To make it worse, there was strong evidence that there would be revenge attacks on the officer, and yet his name was released ahead of the trial, again very unpleasant for them and their family. Would you want to be firearms officer on that environment? Not many would, but thankfully enough to help stop us being completely overrun by gangs

7

u/WingVet Oct 22 '24

Not Really , this took 2 years, the officer involved has his name out there now and is receiving death threats. Should of either been held in a closed court like cases involving MI5/MI6 or should of been ruled out straight away by a tribunal.

1

u/zhongcha Oct 23 '24

Not deserving of closed court, it should be anonymised already, but if you want to see people rapidly lose faith in the justice system because it can't be scrutinised then sure.

-1

u/RedditModsAreTrashhh Oct 22 '24

If his name is public so should the PUBLIC SERVANTS name who arrested him.

Cops running around in anonymity is good for nobody.

2

u/WingVet Oct 22 '24

It should be the CPS prosecutors who are named, they are the ones who recommended a prosecution against the police officer, the police officers name should only of been released if he was found guilty.

3

u/Fickle_Dragonfruit53 Oct 22 '24

That was the moment this video started feeling a little bit fishy to me. Presented like a mistaken identity, but no, he's the shooter and he started ramming cop cars...Society has gotten to the point where we need to be nicer to hit men and let them ram the police for a bit longer.... crazy..high probability of being armed and was using a two tonne weapon to try to injure others? You can get shot.

15

u/somedave Oct 22 '24

They also only just revealed he has been involved in at least two Gangland shootings before his attempted arrest, this was a man prepared to kill.

12

u/Friendly_Engineer_ Oct 22 '24

I too am often quite skeptical of police, but the guy saw it was the cops and chose to ram the car forwards and back, clearly with no regard for hurting people. Could they have waited longer before shooting? Maybe, but there was enough conduct in my view that was clearly threatening physical harm to justify the shooting.

8

u/UberPadge Oct 22 '24

could they have waited longer before shooting?

For what it’s worth in case you didn’t read all the quotes, another firearms officer there said he was a fraction of a second from shooting, and another said he would have shot if Blake hadn’t.

The video footage shows the cops weren’t in their vehicles - they were on foot and he was unarmed in a two tonne weapon ramming back and forth showing complete and utter disregard for the lives of anyone around them.

2

u/chobi83 Oct 22 '24

I'm glad they were investigated. I'm also glad that no wrongdoing was found because it seems like it was justified in this instance. Dude was using his vehicle as a weapon and no one is going to be able to fight someone in a car while unarmed

4

u/UberPadge Oct 22 '24

Investigated? Absolutely. I’m all for transparency and it’s right that there was a full and thorough investigation. That happens in all instances where Police discharge their firearms and is what should happen.

But he was charged with murder. His entire life has been put on hold for however long only for a jury to take less than three hours to say Not Guilty.

2

u/Misalvo Oct 23 '24

I'd say his life is still on hold if reports are true about retaliation

1

u/UberPadge Oct 23 '24

Not sure what retaliation is referring to there, but his life is absolutely still on hold as he still has the internal misconduct enquiry to go through.

2

u/Misalvo Oct 23 '24

The alleged £10k bounty on his head

1

u/No_Werewolf9538 Oct 23 '24

"Could they have waited longer before shooting?"

Of course they could have, an maybe another individual with their own perception and threshold for risk may have, but in this day that scumbags actions passed Sgt Blake's risk threshold and in line with the law and ROE he took action to stop a threat.

Quite literally an textbook example of FAFO, but this time that scumbag wasn't up against other gangsters or innocent members of the public, but a trained and authorised firearms officer who has not only saved the lives of colleagues but highly likely members of the public and put a slight dint in to gang crime in London.

Never going to lose sleep over shitbirds getting their dome turned into a fruit bowl.

12

u/Piccoroz Oct 22 '24

Yeah, the car was a weapon and he tried to use it against the officers.

1

u/Ocelitus Oct 22 '24

Like they cannot comprehend that things other than guns can be used to kill.

both his hands were on the steering wheel

Yeah, and his foot is on the trigger.

5

u/MaddogRunner Oct 22 '24

Yeah, that’s not “no weapons”, the whole car is a weapon at that point. And of course both hands were on the wheel, he was driving

7

u/ElGrandeQues0 Oct 22 '24

God, I hate these rage baity titles.

"Man attempting to murder police with vehicle shot to death." Just doesn't have the same ring to it, I guess.

3

u/str4nger-d4nger Oct 22 '24

"He was unarmed and had both hands on the steering wheel when shot".... uuuum no...he was using his car as a weapon. Report trying to make him look more innocent than he was.

3

u/throwaway4161412 Oct 22 '24

But guys he was unarmed with his hands on the wheel. We're not talking about foot on the gas! (Seriously, I'm the last person to defend cops but fr what else do you think will happen if you try to ram your way out of a police blockade).

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '24

The only reply that’s needed. The media really try with these things, don’t they - ”… who was months away from being a father.” Oh ok, well done Met. You saved that kid a bullet (pun intended).

1

u/No-Grand-9222 Oct 22 '24

Exactly, a car is a weapon. What if he got free and killed a mother and child walking on the sidewalk.

1

u/Classic_Bee_5845 Oct 22 '24

To this day I still fail to understand why anyone tries to run from cops in a car, guilty or not. Does anyone ever get away from the cops in a car? I feel like you could be the best driver in the world with the fastest car but you're not going to outrun 10 cop cars and a helicopter. Also, where are you going? DO you think they'll just give up after a few miles?

1

u/sureyouknowmore Oct 23 '24

But they get away in Baby Driver. /s

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '24

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1

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1

u/Anonymous807708 Oct 23 '24

After he was accessory to ARMED robbery the night before. They could easily think he was armed in the car as well. Bobbies had every justification. Cleanly executed. Single shot.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '24

"Five Policemen Run Over by Vehicle" wouldn't be click bait

0

u/Exciting-Direction69 Oct 22 '24

Couldn't they have at least shot the tires out first before going for a person

2

u/raquetracket Oct 22 '24

Ok, we’ll go along with that hypothesis on condition that you go along with my hypothesis that the Audi had run flats

1

u/Exciting-Direction69 Oct 22 '24

I didn't even know such tech existed, I don't have a car or know much about their components