Armed police in Hackney near London surrounded a 13-year-old boy who was playing with a toy water pistol, mistaking it for a firearm. Officers responding to a report of a possible firearms incident arrested the boy and surrounded him with their guns drawn. The incident, which took place in July 2021, has led to an apology from the Metropolitan Police. The boy’s mother had expressed her anger and distress at the incident, which she described as “a deeply traumatic experience.”
According to reports, the boy was having a water fight with his sibling when a police officer on patrol reported a potential firearms incident. One toy was blue and white and the other was pink and white. Armed units from the Metropolitan and City of London Police were sent to the scene. The Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) said that the subsequent treatment of the boy and the scene that unfolded were appalling.
The boy’s mother claimed that the police showed contempt towards her when she arrived and challenged them. She expressed her shock at the incident, saying she feels broken by it and cannot protect her child from such occurrences. She raised questions about how she could ever tell her children to turn to the police for help.
The Metropolitan Police conducted an internal investigation and found no misconduct had been committed by the officers involved. However, a further complaint of racial bias is being investigated by the force’s standards department. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has stated that the Met Police could lead both investigations itself
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