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Mistaken bomb suspect tackled before shot
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-17 08:59
An innocent Brazilian man shot dead by British police who mistook him for a London bombing suspect had taken a seat on a train and was tackled by police before being shot, according to an account of events broadcast Tuesday, AP reported.
British police have said that 27-year-old electrician Jean Charles de Menezes failed to obey an order to stop as they tailed him into London's Stockwell underground train station a day after a series of bombs planted on London's transit system failed to fully detonate.
Menezes had emerged from a house that police believed was linked to the bombings and had under surveillance.
Britain's ITV television news claimed on Tuesday, citing security footage, that Menezes entered the station at a normal walking pace, stopping to pick up a newspaper.
The television station said that witness accounts included in an investigation report into the shooting said Menezes was seated on the train before being shot.
ITV said the report included quotes from a police surveillance officer describing how he wrapped his arms around Menezes as he sat.
"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 onto the floor of the carriage."
ITV said the report came from an official investigation into Menezes' death.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who have been charged with investigating the shooting, refused on Tuesday to comment on the veracity of the documents.
"We do not know from which organization or from whom the documents shown on television this evening have come," the commission said in a statement.
Metropolitan Police said they could not make any comment while the police complaints commission investigation was ongoing.
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