British cops accused of racial profiling
Print Edition
British sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner have accused London police of racial profiling after officers stopped and searched the couple鈥檚 car, with their 3-month-old son inside.
Williams and Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese sprinter, are both black and were stopped in their Mercedes on Saturday afternoon. The 26-year-old Williams said Metropolitan Police 鈥減ut out a fabricated report鈥 about driving on the wrong side of the road.
鈥淭ime for change and for actions to have consequences,鈥 Williams wrote on Sunday on her Instagram account. 鈥淪till incredibly hurt and shaken by my ordeal yesterday.鈥
鈥淭hey say the UK isn鈥檛 racist,鈥 Williams wrote in a Twitter post that linked to her response in The Times newspaper.
Williams, a sprint relay gold medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 European Championship, told the newspaper that 鈥渋t鈥檚 always the same thing鈥 and that dos Santos has been pulled over many times.
鈥淭he way they spoke to Ricardo, like he was scum, dirt on their shoe, was shocking. It was awful to watch,鈥 Williams said.
Video of the incident has circulated on social media. A woman, who appeared to be recording the incident, says 鈥渉e didn鈥檛 do anything鈥 as the man exits the car. She is then pulled from the back seat. A female officer is heard saying they plan to search the car for weapons.
Williams told The Times that they plan to meet with a lawyer to consider legal action against the police.
The video was posted by British Olympic gold medalist Linford Christie, who is training both Williams and the 25-year-old dos Santos for next year鈥檚 Tokyo Olympics.
鈥淩acist police aren鈥檛 just in America,鈥 the 60-year-old Christie wrote on Twitter.
In a separate post, the former sprinter added: 鈥淲as it the car that was suspicious or the black family in it.鈥
Williams also posted the video to her Instagram account.
Metropolitan Police issued a statement that said nothing illegal was found and that no arrests were made.
It said the stop was made because the car was 鈥渄riving suspiciously, including driving on the wrong side of the road鈥 and because the driver sped off when directed to stop.
Officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards reviewed footage from social media and the officers鈥 body cameras.
鈥淲e are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues,鈥 Commander Helen Harper said. 鈥淭he officers were deployed to a high violence area of London and (because) the manner of the driving raised suspicion, it is only right that they act on it.
鈥淲e are open to discussing the incident with the individuals involved if they wish to do so,鈥 Harper added.
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