Bianca Williams: Stopped athlete was stereotyped by police, panel told

An athlete who was stopped and searched believes he is stereotyped by police as a "black man in a nice car so he must be engaged in criminality", a misconduct hearing was told.

Ricardo dos Santos, 28, and his partner, British sprinter Bianca Williams, 29, were pulled over outside their west London home in July 2020.

Nothing untoward was found in their car.

Five Met Police officers deny gross misconduct.

The couple were stopped outside their home in Maida Vale on 4 July 2020, and had their three-month-old baby with them in their car.

They believe they were racially profiled by the officers.

Karon Monaghan KC, for the Independent Office for Police Conduct, told the hearing in closing submissions that Mr dos Santos had been "repeatedly" stopped and searched by police.

He had been stopped nine times within four weeks of buying a car in 2018, the panel was told.

Ms Monaghan said: "He believes he is stereotyped as a black man in a nice car so he must be engaged in criminality of some sort."

She added: "He believes that the officers are racist. He told them that and he continues to believe that to be the case."

The panel has been shown footage of the incident in which Mr dos Santos swears at the officers involved.

Ms Monaghan said: "His abusive response to the police is explicable by his experiences - some of which he described as traumatic.

"In my submission that is understandable."

She told the panel that the officers' descriptions of Mr dos Santos' driving as "appalling", "horrendous" and "suspicious" - which were given as reasons for stopping him - were all labels that "do not reflect the reality".

Ms Monaghan said the "exaggerated" descriptions of Mr dos Santos' driving were made to "justify what happened next" when officers detained and searched him.

She told the panel that the use of force was "excessive from the outset" and that the sprinter's "swearing and abuse" did not begin before he was "grabbed and subjected to physical restraint".

Of the use of force against Ms Williams, which included exiting her from the car and handcuffing her, Ms Monaghan said Acting Sgt Simpson "acted unreasonably" in using "immediate force" on the athlete.

She also said the officers, who claimed they smelled cannabis, "clearly lied".

Acting Sgt Rachel Simpson, PC Allan Casey, PC Clapham, PC Michael Bond and PC Sam Franks deny all charges, including allegations they breached police standards over equality and diversity during the stop and search.

The hearing continues.

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