London police officer who fatally shot Chris Kaba acquitted of murder

Officer found not guilty in death of Chris Kaba, who was unarmed when he was shot in September 2022.

A London police officer who fatally shot a Black man two years ago has been acquitted of murder.

Martyn Blake, a 40-year-old marksman with the Metropolitan Police, was cleared by a London jury on Monday in the death of Chris Kaba.

Blake shot Kaba, 24, on September 5, 2022 on a narrow residential street in the Streatham Hill neighbourhood in south London.

Kaba was unarmed and driving an Audi that police believed was linked to a shooting the previous day, which they forced to stop.

He had tried to drive away while boxed in by police vehicles when Blake fired a single round through the Audi’s windshield after Kaba began ramming the 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 not reasonably justified or justifiable”.

Blake said he had 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 whole intention was to stop that vehicle, which I thought was about to run my colleagues over,” Blake said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley reads out 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 duty following anger from Black communities.

Jurors in London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for about three hours before finding Blake not guilty.

Blake let out a sigh of relief as the verdict was read. Kaba’s family, seated in the courtroom, showed no visible reaction.

Prosecutors said their thoughts were with the Kaba family, but they respected the jury’s decision.

“We recognise that firearms officers operate under enormous pressure, but it is our responsibility to put cases before a jury that meet our test for prosecution, and we are satisfied that test was met in this case,” Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division said.

Following Kaba’s killing in September 2022, anti-racism protesters took to the streets of London demanding justice.

Kaba’s family called for accountability in a statement, saying, “We are worried that if Chris had not been Black, he would have been arrested on Monday evening and not had his life cut short.”

According to official figures, Black people are far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than any other ethnic group.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies