A police officer who slapped a 16-year-old boy with mental health difficulties “multiple times in the face” as he was being transported to a hospital in London has been found guilty of assault.
The judge, Briony Clarke, found Metropolitan police constable Sevda Gonen guilty of assault for striking the boy “multiple times in the face with an open palm” after “she allowed her frustrations to get the better of her” on 13 November 2023.
Gonen, 33, of Leytonstone, London, and another Met PC, Stuart Price, 35, were also found guilty of carrying out an unlawful search, amounting to assault by beating, at Westminster magistrates court on Friday.
Gonen and Price will be sentenced on 24 January.
Police were initially called after the boy was reported to have been aggressive at his home address and to have acted violently towards a mental health worker who was attempting to perform an assessment.
A camera inside a police vehicle captured a conversation between the officers on their way to the boy’s home, in which Gonen was heard to call him “a fucking little shit”, the court heard.
Price said of the boy: “He’s a fucking dickhead,” with his colleague replying, “I’ve had enough of him.”
Gonen apologised for the remarks on Thursday, telling the court the conversation was “in the heat of the moment”.
Lyndon Harris, prosecuting, said Gonen “in particular disliked” the boy and “had formed the impression that he was wasting their time by faking some form of mental illness”.
Once at the address, Price, of Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, offered to drive the boy to hospital in a police van after his mother told officers she was concerned for her son’s welfare.
Footage from the police van showed that the boy lit a cigarette and started to smoke during the drive, the court heard.
Gonen then climbed into the caged back of the vehicle and pushed the boy into the corner, which the prosecution accepted was lawful. After a struggle, the boy was placed in handcuffs but not arrested.
In a subsequent use-of-force form filled out by Price, the officer said the boy had “actively offered resistance to Gonen’s efforts to take his cigarette”, with Gonen writing in her form the boy offered “aggressive resistance”.
Gonen said the boy’s smoking made her “panic” as there were “huge safety risks”, adding that she has asthma and smoking in the vehicle was “criminal damage”.
The boy was searched after officers expressed concern he could have something in his pockets.
The prosecution said the search was unlawful as the boy had not been arrested.
Price told the court the search was to “prevent further offences taking place”.
Clarke said she was satisfied that the search was unlawful, adding that the officers carried it out “giving no thoughts to what power they had or even if they had any powers”.
The Met’s area commander, Hayley Sewart, said: “We know this incident had a significant impact on the victim and his family, and I would like to apologise to them for the distress and upset caused.
“Very sadly, what started out as an attempt to get the right medical attention for a teenager in mental health crisis quickly escalated to the events we saw unfold that day.
“The actions of PC Gonen in slapping the victim are deeply troubling and fall well below the standards and behaviour we expect from our officers.
“An internal review of the incident raised concerns about her actions and as a result we referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.”
