An athlete, who was stopped and handcuffed by the police along with her partner and young son, said the experience made her feel “being black is a crime” when politicians questioned the actions of the officials .
Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos, both trained by former Olympic champion Linford Christie, were stopped on Saturday on their way back to their home in Maida Vale, west London.
Officials’ treatment of the incident was scrutinized after Christie accused the police of metropolitan cities of institutional racism and released footage of the couple forced out of the car. In the video, Williams, who is obviously desperate, repeatedly says, “My son is in the car.”
On Monday, Labor chief Keir Starmer, a former prosecutor, said he could not see the justification for using handcuffs.
The 26-year-old Williams, who is the fifth fastest British woman in history over 200 meters, said she felt obliged to speak up and see what legal process there was given her high profile.
“Someone has to go further,” she told the Guardian. “If I won’t be, who will it be? This happens to many black men in the UK and not all [is] in a position where they can take a position and have a voice.
“I thought: I have to talk about it, let people out there know that it happens to people who represent the country. It could happen to anyone, it could happen to my brother, it could happen to my son when he was older.
“I’ll have to teach him if he can go to school alone or go out with his friends. You have to be careful because being black is a crime. “
The Met said the Saturday stop at around 1:25 p.m., which was carried out by Territorial Support Group officials who were patrolling due to an increase in violence in the area, “posed no problems of misconduct”.
It was said that the vehicle had darkened windows, was “driving suspiciously”, even on the wrong side of the road, and raced away before it voluntarily stopped. The statement said that after nothing was found in the person or the vehicle, no arrests were made and the couple released.
Williams said the Met’s statement confused her when she said the car was not on the wrong side of the road, wide enough for a single car, and that while the rear windows were tinted, they had come from Mercedes not illegal.
She said Dos Santos, 25, the Portuguese 400m record holder, has been stopped several times by the police. “He’ll just say,” It’s a natural thing, it happens all the time, “said Williams.” And it’s really sad for him to be like that. Even when we were both handcuffed outside, he said: ” Welcome to my world, “and it hurt. It shouldn’t have to be that way.”
Williams said her initial concern during the incident was for her partner driving, but then she switched to her three-month-old son Zuri-Li. “My heart just sank and I just wanted to try to help him [Dos Santos]And when they started grabbing me, I thought: God, I didn’t do anything wrong, but my son is in the car, I can’t come, my baby is in the car. “
Starmer said he did not think the officials involved had handled the situation well given the baby’s presence. “The use of handcuffs is always controversial and I couldn’t see what was the justification for it,” he told LBC.
“It will be up to the police to justify their actions. I don’t know what caused the stop at all. But what I do know is that as an executive looking at this footage, I would feel uncomfortable with how to deal with it. “
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he raised the case at the Met. “I take every allegation of racial profiling very seriously and have raised this issue with the Met police,” he said. “It is imperative that our police force maintain the trust of the communities it serves so that everyone in London, regardless of their origin or zip code, can feel safe, secure and served.”
Williams said that despite the headlines for the incident, she could not be defined. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t have to be ashamed of anything,” she said. “I am still Bianca Williams and I will still compete for GB and hopefully form the Olympic team next year, so I will continue to do what I do. And I just hope that more people don’t experience what I’ve experienced because it’s terrible and I wouldn’t wish anyone. “
On Monday night, the Met released an updated statement that the couple were both handcuffed, “based on officials’ views of the way the vehicle was driven, the vehicle trying to avoid the police, and the driver himself refuse to leave his vehicle ”.
Central West Commandant Helen Harper said the directorate for professional standards had rechecked the officers’ body-worn video and social media material and was still satisfied that there were no misconduct issues.
She asked the couple to contact them to discuss what had happened.
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