MET POLICE PAY DAMAGES TO YOUNG BLACK MALE VIOLENTLY ASSAULTED BY OFFICERS
Updated: Nov 13
PRESS RELEASE
We act for BD who, like far too many young Black males, suffered injury as a result of contact with the Metropolitan police.
On 13 February 2020, twenty-one year old BD left a music event with his friends when he was stopped by Metropolitan police officers. They claimed he smelled of cannabis and violently assaulted him in an attempt to force him to the back of the police van. One of the officers said that it was ‘disgusting’ that BD had suggested he was stopped because of his race. Another added “that is your bigoted attitude, not us.”
BD was strip-searched and detained at Bethnal Green police station for 16 hours before he was released without charge.
For years after the incident, the Metropolitan Police refused to apologise to BD or compensate him for the harm he suffered that night. He was left with no choice but to bring his claim to court for assault / battery, false imprisonment and aggravated damages.
More than four years later, the Metropolitan Police have paid BD tens of thousands of pounds for the way he was treated by its officers.
Emma Gilbert, solicitor, says: “BD was just 21 years old when he was stopped and brutally assaulted by Metropolitan police officers. What was BD doing? Spending time with his friends after enjoying a night of music.
The footage of the incident is clear: the officers chose hostility and they chose violence. That choice was not necessary. For BD, this case has always been about holding the Met accountable for the way their officers brutalise Black Londoners.
It is deeply troubling that victims of police violence like BD are expected to take the drastic step of bringing legal proceedings for the Metropolitan police to acknowledge the harm done by its officers and to achieve some kind of justice.”
Unfortunately, cases like BD’s are all too common. There is still much more that needs to be done to tackle the ongoing blatant institutional racism within the MPS which continues despite the critical findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in 1999 and the Casey Review last year.
BD was represented by Daniel Cooper and Emma Gilbert at Imran Khan and Partners Solicitors.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information, please contact Emma Gilbert on 020 74043004 or EmmaG@ikpsolicitors.com.
