Bianca Williams: Shelagh Fogarty challenges former officer over police's actions
6 July 2020, 15:45 | Updated: 6 July 2020, 19:05
Bianca Williams: Shelagh Fogarty challenges former officer over police's actions
Shelagh Fogarty challenged a former officer over police's actions after a British athlete says she was "heartbroken" to be racially profiled.
A Team GB sprinter has said she plans to sue the Metropolitan Police after she and her partner were pulled over and searched by officers in what she says was a racial profiling incident.
Olympian Bianca Williams told LBC's Nick Ferrari that an apology from the force wouldn't be enough after Saturday's incident in Maida Vale, London, after her 3 month year old son was left in the car crying while her and her partner were handcuffed.
Former police officer Paul told Shelagh that the accusation of racial profiling "needs to be thrown out the window."
He explained it does not matter the ethnicity of the person, if they are "driving like an idiot" they will be stopped, and according to the police statement, the Olympian's partner and fellow athlete Ricardo Dos Santos was doing just that.
Paul explained that the couple were stopped by the Territorial Support Group, a branch of the police that deal with stopping people every single day and deal with so many different problems, such as people becoming aggressive and hiding evidence.
The British athlete stopped by police "for being black"
He said the officers, when approaching people, do not know what the reaction will be.
"Police officers get killed if they don't deal with people robustly and they try to do it professionally, they try to do it in ways that both the driver and the police are happy with," the former officer explained, to which Shelagh agreed.
She countered that the police are "meant to be the grown ups in the situation" and she said, "It seemed to me that very little or no time in fact was given to calm respectful discourse, it was actually out, hands on, cuffs on, we'll be in charge of your baby.
"If your baby was next to you in a car and out of nowhere police are dragging you out of your car you are going to react badly," Shelagh said to which Paul countered that "police need to control the situation."
Shelagh posited that if a white woman was shouting to a police officer to keep away from her and her baby she would not be handcuffed.
Police detain athlete amid claims of 'racial profiling'
