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.