Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
There will be no stranger story this week than that of the British police officer who allegedly used song titles while providing evidence to an inquiry surrounding the fatal shooting of the barrister Mark Saunders. And what’s more, the unnamed officer may have also pulled the trigger.
Saunders was killed by firearms officers in May 2008, following a five-hour armed standoff at his apartment in West London. And it’s subsequently transpired that an internal investigation has uncovered the officer’s bizarre behavior. For reasons presumably only known to the policeman in question — he gave evidence as Alpha Zulu 8 or AZ8 — the transcript revealed certain phrases which are also song titles. The extensive list includes “Enough is Enough” by Donna Summer, “Point of No Return” by Buzzcocks, “Faith” by George Michael, “Line of Fire” by Journey, “Quiet Moments” by Chris de Burgh, “Kicking Myself” by As Tall As Lions and “F___ My Old Boots” by the Membranes. And he even got intricate at one point, using the phrase “enough is enough,” which was the subtitle to “No More Tears” by Barbra Streisand.
(See the best albums of all time.)
To wit, the transcript contains the likes of the following: The situation had got “past the point of no return,”, and, “As I play it back in my mind, which is not something I do all the time, but in quiet moments I think about and I feel: ‘is there any other way?'”
(See how British bands got the Royal stamp of approval.)
It’s emerged that Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, is “furious” about the “insensitivity and lack of judgment” shown by the officer. And AZ8 surely missed a trick because there was nothing by British band The Police in his testimony. (Via BBC)