British police have apologized to the speed race runner Bianca Williams for "distress" and "insult" caused by the arrest and search in London of her and her family. Williams and her partner, the 400-meter sprinter runner Ricardo dos Santos, were pulled out of their car last Saturday by the police, in a video released by former Olympic champion Lynford Christie.
Williams said she believed the police had approached them with a racist background, after they were tied up and separated from their three-month-old child. The Metropolitan Police themselves referred voluntarily to the inspection body, despite two reviews they had made that did not identify any bad behavior by its members.
Police Commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed to a parliamentary committee today: "We apologized to Mrs. Williams, and we once again apologize for the ordeal caused by this arrest." "Two officers spoke yesterday on our behalf with Mrs. Williams, and I think we all saw what happened with sympathy for a person who was stopped in his car, who has a small child in the back, probably not knowing exactly what is going on, and later it turned out that he does not carry with his partner anything but Project".
Nothing was found during the search, which police said was the result of patrols in the area in response to an increase in armed violence. Police said the car was seen moving suspiciously, including on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver drove off when asked to stop.
But this novel was rejected by Williams, European and Commonwealth champion in the 100-meter relay race, and said she was considering suing the police, "I feel very hurt because of their actions, and my heart was hurting to see them keeping my partner away from me and keeping me away from my child."
Sal Naseem, the regional director of the future bureau for police behavior, said the inspectorate would study whether the arrest and the search were "appropriate and consistent." "We will also investigate whether racial or discriminatory stereotypes played a role in the incident," he added.