Met police firearms officers who arrested a child playing with a water pistol have been cleared of wrongdoing.
Marksmen surrounded the 13-year-old boy, who was “rammed” off his bike and handcuffed during the incident in Hackney, east London, in July.
The boy was having a water fight with his sibling on July 19, 2023, when a patrol officer reported a potential firearms incident.
According to campaign group the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA), a van knocked Child X off his bicycle before he was “surrounded by armed police officers who pointed their firearms at him”.
He was quickly de-arrested when they realised he had been playing with a water pistol.
The boy’s mother later said she felt “betrayed” by the police. “I know - and the police know - that they would not have treated my son in the way they did if he had been a white 13-year-old boy,” she said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched an investigation into what happened and on Friday announced that they found the officers had acted “reasonably and correctly”.
In a statement, the police watchdog said there was “no evidence the child was treated different due to his ethnicity or of adultification” during the incident in Buxted Road.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, in charge of policing for Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: “The IOPC has carried out a thorough and detailed investigation, examining a range of evidence including body worn video and dash cam footage and consulting with an independent firearms expert.
“It has found officers acted correctly, both in deciding to send firearms officers to the scene and then how they dealt with the incident on arrival.
“At the time there was very real concern a genuine firearm had been seen. Officers acted swiftly to deal with the potential threat, but then de-arrested the child as soon as it become clear he had been playing earlier with a water pistol.
“This incident shows just how difficult it can be to determine whether a firearm is real. The public would not wish us to hesitate in responding and risk a genuine firearm being used on the streets of London. We have a duty to protect the public from harm.
“I am pleased the IOPC has recognised this and the very difficult job our firearms officers do day in day out to keep London safe.
“None the less, this incident was understandably extremely distressing for the boy involved as well as his family and we remain sorry for the impact upon them.”
