A London police officer who shot and killed a black man two years ago has been acquitted of murder.
Martyn Blake, a 40-year-old Metropolitan Police marksman, was acquitted by a London jury on Monday over the death of Chris Kaba.
Blake shot Kaba, 24, on September 5, 2022 on a narrow residential street in the Streatham Hill neighborhood of south London.
Kaba was unarmed and driving an Audi that police believed was connected to a shooting the day before, and they forced him to stop.
He had attempted to drive away while cornered by police vehicles when Blake fired a single bullet through the Audi’s windshield after Kaba began ramming police cars in an attempt to escape.
Prosecutor Tom Little told jurors at the start of the trial this month that Blake’s decision to shoot Kaba “was neither reasonably justified nor justifiable.”
Blake said he thought there was an “imminent threat” to his colleagues if he had not shot Kaba.
He gave evidence that he intended to incapacitate Kaba but not kill him.
“My only intention was to stop that vehicle, which I thought was about to hit my colleagues,” Blake said.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley reads a statement after British police officer Martin Blake was acquitted of the 2022 murder of Chris Kaba, outside New Scotland Yard in London. [Jaimi Joy/Reuters]
Blake was suspended from office following anger from black communities.
Jurors at London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for about three hours before finding Blake not guilty.
Blake breathed a sigh of relief when the verdict was read. Kaba’s family, sitting in the courtroom, showed no visible reaction.
Prosecutors said they were thinking of the Kaba family but respected the jury’s decision.
“We recognize that firearms officers operate under enormous pressure, but it is our responsibility to present cases to a jury that meets our test for prosecution, and we are satisfied that the test was met in this case,” Frank Ferguson , head of the Crown Prosecution Service. Said the Special Service of the Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division.
Following Kaba’s murder in September 2022, anti-racist protesters took to the streets of London demanding justice.
Kaba’s family called for accountability in a statement, saying, “We are concerned that if Chris had not been black, he would have been arrested Monday night and his life would not have been cut short.”
According to official figures, black people are much more likely to be stopped and searched by police than any other ethnic group.
