London: Asthmatic Black Schoolboy Forced To Ground, Handcuffed In Mistaken Identity. Video Surfaces

The 14-year-old, who suffers from asthma, was stopped by officers who mistook him for a robbery suspect who fit the description.

Representational image of a London Metropolitan Police personnel.

The Metropolitan Police of London last week forced to the ground and handcuffed a 14-year-old schoolboy in a mistaken stop and search. Video footage of the incident has now surfaced. The incident took place in south London on Thursday, June 23 when the boy, De-shaun Joseph, was walking home from school in Croydon, media reports said. 

According to a report in The Independent, De-shaun was stopped by officers on the basis of a tip-off that he matched the description of a suspect in a robbery case that took place somewhere near the locality.

The robbery suspect was supposed to be a young black man in a blue hoodie, and De-Shaun was stopped outside the Blackhorse Road Station, Daily Mail reported, adding that he was wearing his school uniform with a grey top over it.

The report said the teenager suffers from asthma. He reportedly shouted out his mother Janet Joseph’s phone number to a passerby when he was captured. Janet soon arrived at the scene and found him in handcuffs.

“It's the same old story - every black boy fits the description,” she was quoted as saying. Janet also said what De-Shaun went through was “every parent's worst nightmare”.

The video shows how the police held De-Shaun face-down, with his hands behind his back, as they kneeled on top of him.

“I thought I was going to die,” he told ITV News.

The police later released De-shaun without arresting him as they admitted he was the wrong person.

'I thought I was going to die' Black schoolboy, forced to ground in mistaken stop and search.
The schoolboy's mother told me she feared her son would be the next George Floyd- her son suffers from asthma & was walking home from school. Here's my exclusive @itvnews report RT pic.twitter.com/bvMGIsnT7P

— Antoine Allen (@AntoineSpeaker) June 25, 2022