‘THERE was no chase’ before the Metropolitan Police marksman shot and killed Chris Kaba on 5th September, his cousin Jefferson Bosela told thousands of demonstrators at Downing Street on Saturday.
Bosela spoke at the end of the 26th, biggest ever, annual United Families and Friends March against the deaths of black men in police custody, from Trafalgar Square down Whitehall.
Kaba, a 24-year-old-father-to-be, was shot through the front windscreen of his car on 5th September after ‘no chase’, insisted Bosela, refuting the Met Police’s account.
Kaba was blocked by a marked police vehicle while driving an Audi in Streatham, south London and there was ‘contact’ between two cars before a police marksman fired a single shot through the front windscreen, hitting him in the head, the opening of his inquest was told earlier this month.
Speaking on Saturday, Bosela said: ‘They said there was a chase, they said there was a pursuit – there was no pursuit, there was no chase, there were no lights, there were no sirens.’
On September 6, the day after the killing, the Met released a statement claiming there had been a ‘pursuit of a suspect vehicle’.
It read: ‘At 21:51hrs on September 5, specialist firearms officers were in pursuit of a suspect vehicle in the Lambeth area.’
‘It (the march) was the biggest ever this year. Chris Kaba’s family were there this year as well. We marched from Trafalgar Square down Whitehall,’ one of the bereaved family members told News Line yesterday.
‘Five family members walked the letter over to Number 10. It was quite emotional. Some of us have been doing this for 24 years.
‘Brian Douglas’s sister was there, Christopher Alder’s sister was there, Marcia Rigg was there, Carol Duggan. Everyone was there this year.’
Chris Kaba’s mother, Helen Nkama, said outside Downing Street, addressing police: ‘I want them to ask me, to tell me, how was Chris the last day? How did Chris feel? What was the last words of Chris? Did he ask for me? Did he call for me? What did Chris say? I wish this painful death must be the last – it must be the last.’
‘Every year there’s more and more and more new deaths,’ said Brenda Weinberg, the sister of Brian Douglas, who co-founded the campaign 26 years ago. Douglas died in 1995 after he was struck in the head by police in Clapham, south London. No officer was disciplined or prosecuted in connection with the killing.
‘This is about lives that exist no more, lives that have been taken, and questions that haven’t been answered. And the police pay us lip service, the Home Office pay us lip service, and then three months’, two months’ time, there will be another one, and another one, and another one, and still no answers.’
