Oops! Breaking a few eggs and all that...

So, the gentleman killed by police in London last month? The one that was acting all suspicious, wearing a bulky coat, jumping the turnstile, running to the train and looking dangerous? Yeah, well, seems he was none of those things. According to the Observer,

The questions are mounting. Initial claims that de Menezes was targeted because he was wearing a bulky coat, refused to stop when challenged and then vaulted the ticket barriers have all turned out to be false. He was wearing a denim jacket, used a standard Oyster electronic card to get into the station and simply walked towards the platform unchallenged.

So why didn't the young man stop when he was being chased by the plains-clothes officers? Well, the Observer may have the answer:

Two weeks before he was killed, de Menezes had been attacked by a gang of white youths, seemingly at random. According to friends this experience left him shaken and nervous.

Gee, if I had just been beaten up by a bunch of thugs a couple weeks earlier and then was being chased by guys who dressed and looked and sounded like them, I wouldn't stop either. One wonders, really, if anyone will be held accountable for this tragedy. Interestingly, all of the cameras seem to have not been working in that station that day. Go figure.
Read the Observer piece for more details.
(Crossposted by Bostondreamer at FloridaBlues)