Shortly after the subway and bus bombings in London in the summer of 2005, the police shot and killed an unarmed Brazilian named Jean Charles de Menezes, a 24-year-old electrician, at the Stockwell underground station. Although original press reports said the victim was killed in a terrorist operation, it soon became apparent that the dead man was innocent, and that his death was the result of mistaken identity.
Stockwell is the station we’ve gone too and from each morning and evening during our stay in London. Outside the station is a memorial to Mr. Menezes:
Given the ethnic mix of the neighborhood around the station, I suspect that many dark-skinned residents of the area concluded, probably correctly, that the shooting could have easily happened to any of them. Eventually Mr. Menezes’ parents won a substantial judgment against the police for their role in the killing.
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