Armed police who arrested a 13-year-old boy after his water pistol was mistaken for a gun acted reasonably in the circumstances, a police watchdog has found.
The boy sustained soft-tissue injuries when he was knocked off his bike by a police van and handcuffed in Hackney, east London, in July last year.
The child’s mother complained, alleging her son, who is black, had been the subject of adultification and discrimination by the officers.
But the regional director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), Charmaine Arbouin, said evidence supports the first officer’s belief the boy may have had a real gun.
“The decision to send armed officers to the scene following the report of a firearm was in line with guidance,” she said in a statement released on Friday.
“And based on the evidence we obtained we found no indication that any officers behaved in a manner that would justify bringing disciplinary proceedings.”
She added: “We know that this incident was distressing to the child involved and his family … We note the Met Police has apologised to the boy’s family for the distress caused.”
At around 3.45pm on 19 July last year, a Metropolitan Police officer reported seeing a male on a bicycle pull out what appeared to be a handgun and point it at a female on Buxted Road.
He described the “blue and white” item as “shaped like a Glock”, putting the male’s age at around 16.
Officers called to the scene used their vehicle to make “tactical contact” with his bicycle at low speed, the IOPC said, knocking the child into a wall.
He was surrounded by armed officers and handcuffed on the ground. Asked where the gun was, the child said it was a water gun and it was “at home”.
After no item was found on him, the handcuffs were removed and he was de-arrested. He went to hospital and was treated for bruising and swelling.
In a statement through lawyers after the decision, the boy’s mother said police “would not have treated my son in the way that they did if he had been a white 13-year-old boy”.
“Unfortunately, the IOPC have shown themselves to be completely incapable of understanding what race discrimination is and how it actually operates in the way that black children are treated by the police,” she added.
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The Alliance for Police Accountability, which supported the mother of the child – referred to as Child X – criticised the decision.
Chairman Lee Jasper said the case “exemplifies the failure of both the Metropolitan Police and the IOPC to protect black children and hold officers accountable for the harm they cause”.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said there was “very real concern” over a genuine firearm, but added the force remains sorry for the impact on the boy and his family.
