A Metropolitan Police disciplinary hearing has found the conduct of two officers, PC Jonathan Clapham and PC Sam Franks, amounted to gross misconduct when they pulled over black athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos and carried out a stop-and-search.
The pair were both immediately sacked following the outcome of the hearing on Wednesday.
Olympic sprinter Mr. Dos Santos, 28, and Ms. Williams, his 29-year-old girlfriend, herself a Team GB athlete, were driving a Mercedes with their 3-month-old son in a baby seat in the back when they were pulled over in Maida Vale, west London, on July 4, 2020 as they returned from a training session.
The pair were handcuffed and the car was searched for drugs but they were released without charge and immediately filed a complaint, claiming they had been racially profiled.
Ms. Williams had filmed much of the incident and her coach, former Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie, uploaded it to the internet, where it soon went viral.
The hearing was told Mr. Dos Santos had been “repeatedly” stopped and searched by police, including being stopped nine times within four weeks of a buying a car in 2018.
Athlete Claimed He Was ‘DWB, Driving While Black’
Mr. Dos Santos claimed he had been arrested for “DWB, driving while black.”Five officers—Mr. Clapham, Mr. Franks, Acting Sergeant Rachel Simpson, PC Allan Casey, and PC Michael Bond—denied all the accusations against them, including allegations they breached police standards over equality and diversity during the stop-and-search.
On Wednesday the panel ruled the conduct of Mr. Clapham and Mr. Franks did amount to gross misconduct.
The panel said the pair were “trapped in a lie” after they claimed to have smelt cannabis on Mr. Dos Santos.
The panel’s chair, Chiew Yin Jones, said their conduct had breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity.
The pair were immediately dismissed by the Metropolitan Police, whose Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said he is determined to weed out racist, corrupt, or incompetent officers.
The IOPC brought the case to the disciplinary panel and relied on documents and reports which indicated black people were “much more likely” to be stopped and searched in London and black people were often “stereotyped as criminal” by the police.
The panel was shown body-worn camera footage in which Mr. Dos Santos swore at the officers while being arrested.‘Appalling’ Driving Given as Reason for Pulling Car Over
The officers claimed Mr. Dos Santos was pulled over because of “appalling” and “horrendous” driving which made them “suspicious.”But the panel heard there was no evidence he was speeding, skidding, driving through red lights, or failing to indicate before making turns.
Ms. Monaghan said the “exaggerated” descriptions of Mr. Dos Santos’s driving were used to “justify what happened next.”
Alisdair Williamson, KC, counsel for Mr. Franks, told the panel his client was “doing his duty” and said: “He is an honest, hardworking, dedicated young man who has given everything to public service. There is no hint of racism in his career.”
The IOPC published a statement in which it said: “The three other officers, Acting Sergeant Rachel Simpson, PC Michael Bond and PC Alan Casey had the gross misconduct allegations against them not proven but will all be subject to the reflective practice review process.”
After the hearing, Mr. Dos Santos said: “The allegations made by the police officers that I was guilty of bad driving, threatening violence, and drugs were dishonest. I believe these are false allegations and were based on racist stereotypes and show very little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case.”
He said: “If you can’t trust the police to be honest and accept when they have done bad and stereotype black people, what hope is there? I don’t believe that the panel has been brave enough to review what the Casey report has already clearly stated, which is that the Met Police is institutionally racist.”
“This case has taken a big toll on our family and on our careers but it’s crucial that those people who have a voice use it as those people who don’t suffer without being listened to,” he added.
