This may be more than an oops

The sad, sad story of the young Brazilian man who was shot by police in London on the Tube is back in the news and the picture isn't pretty. (Hat tip to The Sideshow. You can find the referenced articles in The Guardian and on the BBC. Doesn't seem to be showing up in the American "liberal media" yet.) I had heard rumors previously which indicated that the story told by the police about the event might not be on the up and up. Some newly leaked information in England, if accurate, indicates that it was an out and out coverup.

The papers, from the probe into Jean Charles de Menezes' death, and leaked to ITV, suggest he was restrained before being shot eight times.

The documents, including witness statements, also suggest Mr de Menezes did not hurdle the barrier at Stockwell tube station, as first reports previously suggested, and was not wearing a padded jacket that could have concealed a bomb.

This is bad and there's no two ways about it. Be sure to read Avedon's summary at the Sideshow, linked above. I originally gave the police the full benefit of the doubt and was critical of de Menezes' actions, as reported, because they seemed dangerously foolish. The official version of the story seems to be full of holes, though. Then there's this curious testimony from one of the Tube Security Officers who was on the scene.

"He immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the CO19 [firearms squad] officers ... I grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side. I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting ... I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away on to the floor of the carriage."

From the "official" police version of events we were led to believe:

• They didn't have any idea who he was
• He was dressed in a suspicious fashion (huge, bulky coat on a warm day)
• He leapt over the turnstiles
• He ran from the police
• They shot him down as he was attempting to board the train with his "bomb"

Now, with all of the leaks and eye witness accounts of commuters, it's looking more and more like:

• The police thought they were following a Middle Eastern terror suspect but lost him and misidentified de Menezes
• He wasn't wearing a large bulky coat, but rather a light denim jacket
• He paid for his train fare with an "Oyster card" (like an ATM card?) and didn't leap the turnstiles.
• Rather than running from the police, he was jogging to catch his train which he saw arriving
• He was already seated on the train when the police caught up, and was being restrained in his seat by a security officer when the police started shooting

If all of this was true, I'm still inclined to believe that it was just a tragic accident rather than some intentional assassination by the cops. But when police lie about these things and try to effect a coverup, (assuming these reports are accurate) they may matters worse by several orders of magnitude.