Two Metropolitan Police officers who carried out a stop-and-search of two athletes in west London committed gross misconduct, a tribunal panel has found.
British world championships medallist Bianca Williams, 29, and Portugal Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos, 28, say they were racially profiled. They were handcuffed and searched outside their Maida Vale home while their baby was in the car in July 2020.
Ms Williams filmed it and their coach Linford Christie posted it online. During the incident, the couple were pulled over by officers as they returned from a training session and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons, but nothing was found.
Five Met officers were accused of gross misconduct, which they denied. A disciplinary hearing found the behaviour of PC Jonathan Clapham and PC Sam Franks breached professional standards of police behaviour in relation to honesty and integrity.
The two officers had claimed they smelled cannabis coming from the couple's car but the panel said it was likely the smell had emanated from another area. The hearing was told those officers were untruthful in smelling cannabis and were not seen to attempt to verify the smell, which led to them becoming trapped in a lie when they gave evidence.
The officers face being sacked from the force. Sanctions against them are set to be delivered by the panel yesterday (Friday).
Acting Sgt Rachel Simpson, PC Allan Casey and PC Michael Bond were found by the panel not to have committed gross misconduct and all allegations against them were not proven. Ms Williams and Mr Dos Santos complained to the police watchdog about what had happened to them, saying they had been racially profiled because Mr Dos Santos was DWB, (driving while Black) in a Mercedes.
The watchdog brought a case against the officers. Karon Monaghan KC, for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), told the disciplinary panel at the start of the hearing that the watchdog's case would say that there was institutional discrimination in the Met Police.
Earlier this year, Ms Williams won bronze in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She also won gold in the same discipline at the European Championships in 2018 and silver in 2016.
At the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and 2018, she won 4x100m gold twice representing England. She and Mr Dos Santos, who competed in the 400m at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, are both coached by Mr Christie, the British former 100m Olympic champion.
Footage of part of the stop-and-search filmed by Ms Williams was shared widely on social media, after being posted by Mr Christie.
