MP criticises cops after thirteen-year-old boy is left with swollen eye and cuts in stop and search
A Streatham MP has criticised cops after a thirteen-year-old boy was left with a swollen eye and cuts in a stop and search.
Benjamin Olajive, 13, was on his way to McDonald’s last Tuesday when he was swarmed by police responding to a report of a black person with a knife.
Police said the ‘item’ someone reported as what they believed to be a knife turned out to be an afro comb.
The teenager came away from the police encounter with cuts to his wrists and a swollen eye.
MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy called the stop and search policy “discriminatory” and “dangerously counter-productive” and urged a review.
Videos sent to Metro showed five officers putting Benjamin, who has ADHD and PTSD, in handcuffs while they searched his clothes and backpack for a weapon.
According to witness statements, the stop-and-search lasted about 45 minutes before Benjamin was put in a van and taken to Brixton police station.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP said: “I can only imagine what a traumatic experience this must have been for Benjamin and his friends and how much it must have shaken their trust in the Police.
“It’s so sad how many Black teenage boys are being put through this when they’re just trying to go about their lives.
“The fact that the Government are now intent on ramping up these powers, without any care for the damage they are already doing, shows they aren’t interested in creating a police service that works for all communities.
“Evidence-based stop and search does have a role to play in keeping people safe, but random stop and search is a blunt tool, which is clearly discriminatory and dangerously counter-productive. A proper review of the policy is long overdue.
“Giving the Police ever more powers does nothing to address the complex social causes of crime.
“We should be focusing on the tried and tested solutions that would actually make communities like ours safer: whether that’s reversing education cuts, ending school exclusions, improving mental health services, or taking people out of poverty.”
The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.
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