A team GB sprinter has said she is planning legal action against the Met police after claiming her partner was treated like ‘scum’ during a stop-and-search conducted by the Force.
Bianca Williams accused the Met of ‘racial profiling’ over the incident, in which she and Portuguese 400m record holder Ricardo dos Santos were pulled from their car handcuffed in front of their three-month-old son.
Ms Williams told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday she and her partner are ‘planning on taking down the legal route’ and said Mr Dos Santos had been stopped around 10 times.
The couple later confirmed to The Telegraph they are speaking with lawyers about making a formal complaint.
The Metropolitan Police has responded to the accusations claiming the car that was pulled has “blacked out windows”, the Met said officers “witnessed a vehicle with blacked-out windows that was driving suspiciously, including driving on the wrong side of the road”.
A police statement added: “They indicated for it to stop but it failed to do so and made off at speed. The officers caught up with the vehicle when it stopped on Lanhill Road. The driver initially refused to get out of the car.”
Nothing was found during the search and the couple was let go.
Ms Williams accused the Met of lying in their statement, she said: “They said there’s a lot of youth violence and stabbings in the area and that the car looked very suspicious.
“They see a black male driving a nice car, an all-black car, and they assume that he was involved in some sort of gang, drug, violence problem.
“That is false, we were never on the wrong side of the road. We were driving down through single-width roads. We only found out about us driving on the wrong side of the road once they tweeted it on Saturday afternoon.
“This isn’t the first or fourth or fifth time – it must be about the 10th (her partner has been stopped by police), it’s getting ridiculous.”
Met Commander Helen Harper said: “I understand the concern when incidents like this happen and how they can appear when part of it is filmed without context.
“Due to the concern raised, we conducted a review of the stop. This included social media footage and bodyworn camera footage of the officers at the scene. We are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues.”
A statement for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said: “We are aware of this matter and will be making further enquiries with the Metropolitan Police. We will then be in a position to make an informed decision on the level of our involvement.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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