The mother of a 13-year-old child who was surrounded by armed police after an officer mistook his water pistol for a real gun has said she feels “betrayed” by the Metropolitan Police.
The boy suffered soft-tissue injuries after he was rammed off his bike by a police van and handcuffed as he was confronted by marksmen in Hackney, east London, in July.
In a statement read out on her behalf at a press conference on Thursday, the boy’s mother said the incident had been a “deeply traumatic experience” for their entire family, adding that she believed it would not have occurred had her son “been a white 13-year-old boy”.
Campaign group, The Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) condemned the treatment of the boy, saying his brightly-coloured water pistol was unmistakably a toy and that the incident demonstrated the “adultification” of black children.
The mother of the boy, who has suffered from nightmares since the incident, said in the statement: “I feel let down and betrayed, not only by the police, but also by the IOPC, and by the whole system that is supposed to look after our children, black or white.
“How can I be expected to place my faith in the police to investigate themselves when they have treated my son and me with contempt?”
She added: “I feel broken by it all; distraught because I was not able to protect my child from what happened.”
Lee Jasper, chairman of the APA, told the press conference it was a “shocking and appalling case” and that the child was “inches from death”.
He added: “Not only is a child having nightmares, not only is a mother replaying a scene which could have led to tragic consequences for her son but those who witnessed it are also suffering as a consequence of what they saw that day.”
Mr Jasper said there was increasing anecdotal evidence of “increasingly violent interactions between police and black children”.
He called on the Mayor of London and the Home Secretary to intervene in the case and for safeguarding practices to be amended to “take account of the incidence of institutionalised racism”.
Mr Jasper added: “Our children are routinely seen by police officers and teachers as adults instead of children.”
At the same event Leroy Logan, a former Metropolitan Police superintendent, said the incident demonstrated “a failure of leadership” and called on the police officers involved in the incident to be taken off-duty.
And Dr Wanda Wyporska, chief executive of the Black Equity Organisation civil rights group, said the case was an “example of institutional racism”.
She added: “The treatment of Child X by the Met Police was unwarranted and is genuinely unfathomable.
“How can a toy water gun that is blue and white be considered a credible firearms situation?
“The policing of our community and children needs significant change to get us back to the principle of policing by consent.”
In a written statement Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, in charge of policing for Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said he had apologised to the family.
He said: “This incident was understandably extremely distressing for the boy involved as well as the rest of his family.
“We know it may cause public concern and we want to help the public understand why we responded in the way we did.
“This does not in any way detract from our recognition of the trauma caused to the boy, for which I apologised soon afterwards to his family.”
An internal investigation by the Metropolitan Police found no misconduct had been committed by the officers involved.
A further complaint accusing them of racial bias is still being investigated by the force’s standards department.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog directed that the Met could carry out both investigations itself.
Mr Conway said: “Our officers are dealing with fast-moving situations, based on the limited information provided to them at the time.
“Such is the nature of the threat from firearms that the College of Policing is clear that officers should treat all firearms as real and loaded until proven otherwise.
“The police have a positive legal obligation under human rights legislation to protect life, which shapes our approach to responding to suspected firearms.”
He added: “I am sorry for the trauma caused to the child and I am happy to meet with the family again if they feel that would help.”
A City of London Police spokesperson said: “As common practice, a firearms unit from the City of London Police attended in support of Metropolitan Police firearms units at an incident on July 19 2023.”
