The Metropolitan Police have said officers did nothing wrong on a stop and search after Olympic champion Linford Christie accused Scotland Yard of racism as 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 two people – 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 towards the end of the clip.
Racist police aren’t just in America
The video, shared on Saturday, was captioned with the note “racist police aren’t just in America”.
In a statement, the former Olympic 100-metre 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 text also contained the hashtags BLM and MetPoliceRacist.
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.
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.”
Related – David Starkey sacked over “so many damn blacks” comment
While you’re here
While you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Free, independent journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free, independent media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can’t do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting free, independent journalism.
The shop can be found here.