The Metropolitan police have admitted that a 13-year-old boy playing with a water pistol was rammed off his bike by armed police, knocked to the ground and officers pointed their submachine guns at him.
The Met has apologised for the incident, in which the boy was also handcuffed, which happened in broad daylight in Hackney, east London, in July.
The mother of the boy, who has not been named said she and her family had been left “broken” by the trauma and felt insulted by an officer who called her “aggressive” at the scene. One officer claimed her son had been lucky.
The Met accepts the boy, who is black, suffered trauma. His mother said his race led to his treatment by armed officers and brief arrest on suspicion of having a firearm.
The Met said it was called to a report of a gun in the street and was obliged under policy to treat all firearms as dangerous until proven otherwise. It said no misconduct issues had been identified.
The boy had been playing near his home with a blue plastic water pistol with his sister, who had a pink one.
At 3.45pm on Wednesday 19 July police say an officer “saw a male on a bicycle pointing what was believed to be a handgun at a young girl”. Armed officers were called, with two armed response vehicles attending the scene.
The Met said: “Specialist officers are trained on specific tactics including using vehicles to bring cyclists to a stop. This tactic was used in this case, causing the boy to fall off his bike.
“Firearms officers left the car and he was handcuffed and detained. It quickly became clear that he was not in possession of a firearm. He was de-arrested at the scene. In subsequent inquiries, his family confirmed he had earlier been playing with a toy water gun.”
The child recalls seeing the red dots from the police firearms as the guns were pointed at him.…….
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...nd-pointed-guns-at-him?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other