Police deny accusations of racism by Olympic star Christie
THE Metropolitan Police have said officers did nothing wrong on a stop and search after Olympic champion Linford Christie accused Scotland Yard of racism when two of his athletes were stopped.
The force issued a statement saying it is “satisfied that there are no misconduct issues” after a clip of a stop and search was shared on social media.
Officers stopped a car in Lanhill Road, Maida Vale, west London, on Saturday afternoon after it was seen driving suspiciously, and a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were searched, the Met said.
On Saturday, Mr Christie posted footage on his Twitter page appearing to show a man and a woman being pulled out of a car in a London street.
The woman says “he didn’t do anything” and officers can later be heard telling the woman to calm down after she worries about her son remaining in the car.
A male voice can be heard shouting in the background.
The video was captioned with the note “racist police aren’t just in America”.
The former Olympic 100m champion said: “Can Cressida Dick or anyone else please explain to me what justification the Met Police officers had in assaulting the driver, taking a mother away from her baby all without one piece of PPE and then calling the sniffer dog unit to check the car over.
“Was it the car that was suspicious or the black family in it which lead to such a violent confrontation and finally an accusation of the car smelling of weed but refusing to do a roadside drug test.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct replied to Mr Christie’s video tweet and said: “We are aware of this matter and will be making further inquiries.”
The Metropolitan Police said officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards have reviewed footage from social media and officers’ bodycams and were satisfied there was no concern around the officers’ conduct.