When a knife-wielding drunk hijacked a train on the Docklands Light Railway, passenger Tariq Elmenstirly leapt into action.Hurra…
The 23-year-old student jumped on top of the attacker and pinned him down until police could get there.
Oh:
Armed officers burst into the carriage, fearing someone had been stabbed and immediately Tasered the suspect, knifeman Mohammed Hussain.He was surprisingly phlegmatic about it, eschewing compensation, which is somewhat remarkable these days.
There was just one problem, they had zapped the hero.
No, what he wanted was an admission of error and an apology:
He said he did not want compensation for his ordeal but added: "I didn't get an apology, which was annoying.The Met, however, claims they did apologise.
"Even a 'thank you' would have been sufficient."
The Met claimed that two senior officers had apologised in phone conversations with the victim.Oh?
A Met spokeswoman said: "Mr Elmenstirly acted very bravely that day and it is regrettable that he was tasered following police intervention. Mr Elmenstirly received appropriate care and support at the time and the incident was then reviewed by senior officers who apologised to him on behalf of the Metropolitan Police."So, what’s the mystery of the missing apology?
Well, it’s quite simple – Mr Elmenstirly didn’t want a carefully-crafted, mealy-mouthed and insincere, reviewed-by-force-lawyer-first apology on behalf of the Met police from some shiny-arsed suit at HQ.
He wanted the guy who pulled the trigger to do the decent thing and admit his mistake there and then:
Mr Elmenstirly, from Acton, told the Standard: "All I wanted was for the officer to come up to me and say, 'I made the wrong call'.And who could blame him? As HogDayAfternoon notes in the comments here, sometimes, an apology is enough. But it has to come from the right person, or it isn't an apology at all. It's an insult.
Frankly, if you aren’t man enough to apologise in person when you’ve screwed up, are you man enough to carry a weapon? ANY weapon?
4 comments:
He should have got a smart-ass lawyer and threatened to sue the eff out of them*. Then he would have had a chief super grovelling at his door.
Sad that that is the truth these days but it is.
*Appearing in a neck brace, "never been the same since", needs counselling, can't go near a toaster, flash-backs, PTSD.
I can tell you why the copper didn't apologise at the time... Because he was shit-scared that if he did, and thus admitted "liability", he'd get the arse sued off him by the chap he tasered, then get hauled over he coals by his "management" to the severe detriment of his career.
If you want to point the finger at anybody in this delightful country in which we now live, point it at "no win, no fee" lawyers. Nobody can afford to risk admitting liability for any mistake any longer.
I know that saying "sorry" is risky, but he should have said it anyway. The police have a long way to go to get our respect back. They should protect the public, not the compo budget.
"Then he would have had a chief super grovelling at his door."
I don't think he wanted a chief super. I think he wanted the man who shot him to look him in the eye and admit his mistake.
"Just another reason why the police are so detested thses days."
They certainly don't help themselves, do they?
"Because he was shit-scared that if he did, and thus admitted "liability"..."
But in this situation, he couldn't have avoided liability anyway.
"The police have a long way to go to get our respect back. They should protect the public, not the compo budget."
Indeed!
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