IOPC investigates stop and search of black man, who was sprayed while on ground

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The police watchdog has said it will investigate the stop and search of a man caught on video that turned violent, with the man having CS spray used against him while he was on the ground.

The inciden in October 2018 in north-west London brought criticism from senior politicians including the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott,and her fellow Labour MP David Lammy who has investigated racism in the criminal justice system for the current government.

The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) is treating the officers involved as witnesses, not suspects, at this stage.

Investigators will look at whether the level of force and use of CS spray was excessive. They will also examine whether firing the spray from a close distance while the suspect and officers grappled broke police rules.

Police thought the 23-year-old man matched the description of a suspect for a stabbing. He was later found to be innocent of this but was arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis, obstructing a drugs search and two counts of assaulting police.

The IOPC said the incident happened outside the New Atlas Cafe in Brent, north-west London, on Thursday 4 October at about 3pm.

A crowd gathered and became annoyed at what they saw.

In the video, as the man is sprayed with the CS spray, he shouts: “I can’t breathe.”

The video begins with four officers surrounding the man, who is on the ground with his arms behind his back, with officers seemingly in control of him. He is then pulled to his feet.

The situation escalates as more officers join the melee. A female onlooker shouts at officers that “he’s not resisting” and tells them they are placing his life in danger. Another woman shouts: “You can’t kick him like that.”

The young man then falls to the ground, surrounded by officers.

One officer can be seen with CS spray and fires it from a few inches away from the man’s face. The suspect then shouts: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

A spokesperson from the IOPC said: “We will be examining the use of force and the deployment of CS spray during the restraint. No notices have been served and all officers are being treated as witnesses at this time.”

The IOPC spokesperson added: “The IOPC requested a referral be made by the Metropolitan police after the incident attracted attention in the national media following publication of a video on social media and an independent investigation was launched on 15 November.

“We have recovered CCTV, body-worn video footage, the footage shared online and received statements from officers.”

After the video surfaced, Abbott retweeted an article and video about the incident and said: “Too often a disproportionate level of force is used by police against young black men. It has to stop. Evidence based stop and search is important in fighting crime, but all that we see here is the type of video that poisons police-community relations.”

The watchdog faces criticism from community groups that it is too soft on the police, and from officers that it is too harsh.

The IOPC regional director, Jonathan Green, said: “This incident took place in public view during the day and was witnessed by a number of people. The video has since been shared on a number of social media platforms and used by national media outlets.

“To uphold public confidence in the police complaints system we will be investigating the use of stop and search tactics in this incident and whether the actions of those officers were appropriate and proportionate and followed approved police policies.”