Sports
An athlete who was allegedly racially profiled during a stop and search has said he was pulled over for a second time by seven armed police officers.
Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos published a series of video tweets of him being pulled over and questioned by police in Paddington at 04:00 BST on Sunday.
The Met said officers were concerned the driver may have been using a phone.
Five officers face a gross misconduct hearing over a stop-and-search in 2020 involving the sprinter and his partner.
In a statement about the incident on Sunday, the Met said: “The officers clearly indicated for the car to pull over but it failed to do so and they called for further assistance.”
Mr Dos Santos said officers believed he was on his phone when they stopped him in west London and claimed one officer took his baton out of his pocket “out of frustration ready to smash the glass” after not knowing how to open the car door.
He added “nothing had changed” two years after he was pulled over with his partner, Bianca Williams, and their daughter.
In July 2020, footage of Ms Williams and Mr Dos Santos being searched and handcuffed was widely shared on social media, with Ms Williams later accusing the police of racially profiling them.
After the search, details of the couple’s three-month-old baby were also stored on a police database called Merlin, used to record information on children who become known to the authorities.
In April, police watchdog body the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said an acting police sergeant and four police constables will all face a gross misconduct disciplinary hearing over the incident.
On Sunday’s incident, the force said in a statement: “Armed officers were on routine patrol in a marked police vehicle.
“They saw a car travelling eastbound on the A40 Westway and were concerned the driver may be using a mobile phone at the wheel.
“The driver stopped about five minutes later in Orsett Terrace W2, and the officers spoke to him about why they wanted to stop the vehicle.
“Following the conversation the vehicle was allowed on its way. We have since contacted the driver via Twitter to invite him to contact us if he would like to discuss this matter further.”
BBC SPORT
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Tags: Orsett Terrace W2 Ricardo Dos Santos
