Alan C

Is it me or does anyone else think that SOMEONE should have stopped the bombers escaping?

Especially after one or two were chased by a group screaming 'Stop Him!'

What to do? Stand to the side and let him through thinking 'Nowt to do with me...' or pole axe the ****...

BTW.. The fact that he's running indicates that he's not got any explosive on him to detonate otherwise I'd be off in the opposite direction..

davegtt

Kidding right? By the time people realise whats happening and get their own bearings from sh!tting themselves when the detonator went off then the bomber would have had more of an opportunity to get away. Although to be fair Im not convinced they did escape anyhow, wouldnt mind better 1 or 2 of them are already locked up being questioned without letting the public know too much

thundertiger

yeah, but a knife or gun are equally as damning!!!

dont jeopardise lives (including your own), let plod do their work!!

BB

OllyK

What? Having explosives about your person stops your legs from working at above walking pace?

It's all very well saying you would have stopped him, you now know what he did and who he was. To the people at the time, it could have been a group of NF supporters saying "stop him" as they wanted to beak the **** out of an Asian guy.


Hind sight is 20:20

Alan C

It depends if you saw the incident or picked it up a 100yds further up the escalotor.. I agree hindsight is a wonderful thing.. But I'd like to think that someone would have had the guts to stop him..

I feel that this is indicative of people's attitudes for staying out of things.. Like the time when Sky reported people driving around the prone body of a woman in the road after she'd been mugged and knocked unconcious.. or the one on Crime Watch the other night after a bloke was rammed off his bike and shot.. After the guys had driven off people just drove on and around him.. Just left him there to die!

Shameful in my opinion.. and I hope no one has to experience their wife or family left lying in the road as people walk on saying.. 'Let plod do their work'

thundertiger

alan, we are not talking about someone bleeding to death in the road,
we are talking about a nervous, brainwashed, terrorist, who will stop at nothing to get away!!!

i've already got a 7" scar down the side of my mush, for doing my bit for society.
i would sooner live to see my child grow up, thank you very much.

BB

Abdabz

I agree Thundertiger... Well said.

Also as OllyK says how would you know as said person runs towards you and you hear the shouts what the hell he's wanted for? What business would it be of yours?

I know little about bombs - we didnt study them in my school, so even if I was on the tube and I was one of the relieved passengers who saw the thing fail and watched him run, I still wouldnt know if it was safe for me to cave his head in or not?? I guess it must be if there are hero's who wanted him catching...
P

OllyK

Unfortunately a lot of that is a sign of the times and following th US down the road of suing other people at any chance you get. People are now worried that if they stop:
1) It could somebody pretending and planning a car-jack
2) They will get sued, whether the person lives or dies

With thoses things in the back of people's minds, is there any wonder many people think twice before getting involved?

Leslie

Well Alan C, I think the solution is to get jolly brave chaps like you to ride around the Underground all day to catch the bombers!

Les

Alan C

Leslie. I think you'll find there are plenty of 'jolly brave people' already out there dressed in Police, Fire, Ambulance and military uniforms as well as Underground staff, nurses, Special contables, community support people and a host of others doing their jobs.. Not forgetting the people already chasing the bomber out of the station..

Whilst the rest of the 'Nowt to do with me brigade' stand back and watch.. It's not an understatement to say that if one of these bombers does get back in and manages to set off the bomb properly, then I figure these people can sleep sound at theri inaction....

Of course, I'd want to ensure my son and daughter grow up with a Dad, but surely we must do what we can?

pete1977

Sounds like the typical sort of londoner to me,turn the other cheek and ignore the plight of your fellow man!"spirit of the blitz", "frontline for terror" my ****!

Flatcapdriver

Alan, you're in built fight or flight instincts change as your life changes and without the neccessary training you won't always charge into a situation without thinking. Years ago when I was single I was involved in a situation (nothing like as potentially dangerous as this one) where I just went for it but if the same thing occurred now I doubt that I'd be as quick of the mark simply because I'm now married so I have to think about my wife first. Not being a parent the safety of children probably wouldn't enter into my thinking but I bet that parents would naturally protect their kids before charging in.

hawkthescoobslayer

i did think the same for a fleeting minute then thought "how would it have looked me running after him with the contents of my trousers slowly leaking out of the right leg"

me for one would have plopped myself

GC8

They were chased; they just werent caught, but what do you expect, they had a huge advantage. This is a pointless thread.

Simon

Edcase

I have to admit I was also slightly surprised they got away, certainly every tube station I have been at this week had police presence in the entranceway, so I would have expected them to intervene.

Alan C

I wouldn't say they had a huge advantage (unless they were strapped with explosives and looking for a place to set them off).. I don't think anyone getting in their way would have received determined resistance like that expected from a combat trained soldier.

Just scared kids running for their lives.. as proven by witness remarks about how frightened they looked..

Maybe my 22 years in the military does give you a slightly different outlook on personal reactive capability..

Diamond Dave

We should have sent some of scoobynet's keyboard ninjas after him

Jye

swiftnick

lol

Butty

iTrader: (2)

Perhaps the police have a reason to make the population "think" they have escaped?

Tiggs

maybe it was the police? and Blair of course......and prob the inventor of GPS speed detection...yep, that must be it.

jonc

Damn those pesky terrorists, if we only had an identity card....

Leslie

I see your point Alan C and it would be good if everyone reacted to pin them down. You have to consider the surprise factor as well of course and when people actually realise what is happening they firstly are going to think about personal safety for themselves and family and then they might wonder if it is safe to attack a suicide bomber!

It really is not so simple as it might appear, but maybe there will be a few who are prepared to stop someone running away now that we know what we can expect in the future.

Les

Alan C

I agree that it's not as simple.. I thought many times how I'd react when facing armed attack in Sierra Leone and other places where such incidents were highly probable.. Thankfully, I never had to test any theories..

But as citizens under attack, we must do what we can.. There's no testosterone and bravado here, but I fear the thought of inaction more, especially if the outcome is another bomb on a bus, than the fear of getting hurt.. You'd have to live with the former...

GCollier

I agree with you Alan C. I too was disappointed to hear that they'd all got away - particularly after reading an account that three people tried to apprehend one of them, but he managed to struggle away leaving his rucksack behind.

I'd certainly like to think that if I was in the same situation I'd try to tackle the guy to the floor, but who knows how we'd truly react in a situation of extreme shock/stress? I could find myself legging it in the opposite direction.

Gary.

MJW

Considering that common suicide-bomber practice is strap explosives round the body, I'm not really surprised none of the public wanted to tackle them.

v8voodoo

He must've been pretty fit to outrun all who were in pursuit. I'm amazed that he wasn't either a)followed at a distance or b) noticed legging it for his life by more people. These people don't just vanish. London is a busy place with lots of people around.

Regarding Alans comments, I agree in part. We do need to think before rushing in to situations, we don't for example want to be overpowered and taken as a hostage or used as a human shield. I would say that there are a lot of people amongst us, off duty and ex-police, army and other security services personnel who are trained and well equipped to know how to react. Get involved by all means, but know the risks and think clearly. If you can't, keep out of the way and maybe photograph the suspect, note exactly what he was wearing, any distinguishing features, which direction he went in, preserve the crime scene for forensic analysis, that sort of thing. Everyone can help in some way or another by doing their little bit. You don't have to tackle him head on, that may make the situation worse. Keep a level head, and think which is the best way to deal with the situation and the best way YOU can help. We all know what is happening at the moment, so think how you can help.

Be sensible and use the skills you have and not the ones you don't.

Tiggs

give me no concern about whether i live or die and enough explosive to rip a train open like a coke can..................i'll then run around London setting off small explosives.

£1000 says no member of joe public jumps on me.