Police say sorry to handcuffed athlete
Black runner pulled from car in front of her baby may sue Met
BRITAIN’S top police officer yesterday apologised to a black British athlete who was dragged out of her car and handcuffed in front of her three-month-old baby.
Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick said she was sorry for the ‘distress’ caused to Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and announced a review of the use of handcuffs.
The apology comes just two days after Scotland Yard defended its officers, insisting they had done nothing wrong in stopping and searching Miss Williams and her partner in their Mercedes in Maida Vale, northwest London on Saturday. Miss Williams said she is considering legal action against the Met.
Yesterday Dame Cressida told the home affairs committee she wanted to ensure handcuffing in searches ‘hasn’t become a default’ after the 26-year- old runner and Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese sprinter, were restrained for 45 minutes.
The Commissioner said she had asked a senior officer to review the Met’s handcuffing practices and has set up an ‘oversight group’ looking at the use of force. The Met has also referred itself to the police watchdog.
Nothing was found in the search of the car, which the force said it conducted because the vehicle was driving suspiciously on the wrong side of the road and the driver sped off when asked to stop.
The row over the incident deepened yesterday after Tory councillor Denise Dutton posted a Twitter poll asking: ‘Should Bianca Williams now be banned from representing TeamGB at all future events?’
Miss Williams has called for the resignation of Dame Cressida and said black people are stopped weekly by police for no reason, claiming: ‘The UK is very racist.’ Merseyside councillor Miss Dutton, deputy leader of Sefton Conservatives, prompted anger with her tweet but added: ‘ If she thinks the UK is so racist why would people want her to represent TeamGB?’
Figures revealed yesterday show the use of stop and search in London has surged by around 50 per cent in the year to May and black people are 3.8 times more likely to stopped.
Chairman of the committee, Yvette Cooper, asked Dame Cressida if she was concerned by analysis suggesting that in May of the 10,000 black men aged between 15 and 24 searched, more than 8,000 weren’t found to be carrying, or doing anything requiring further action. The Commissioner said she was ‘alert’ to the issue.
Separate figures suggest that the number of people being handcuffed by the force has leapt five-fold in the last five years and about 35 per cent of those handcuffed are black.
Dame Cressida said she was looking into the issue, but defended stop and search saying it was a ‘lifesaving’ tactic.