Officer fined for assault after wrongly arresting woman over bus fare evasion
A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer has been fined £1,500 for assault after manhandling and wrongly arresting a woman for bus fare evasion in front of her young son.
PC Perry Lathwood, attached to the MPS’s Road Traffic Policing Command, grabbed Jocelyn Agyemang by the arm, causing bruising injuries during the arrest on July 21 last year in Croydon, South London.
However, the judge said rather than as a result of “bad faith” or “an abuse of power”, his actions were a “momentary error of judgment” while dealing with a “difficult and challenging” passenger.
He will also have to pay £200 compensation, costs of £650 and a victim surcharge of £600 following sentencing on Friday (June 14).
Following the original verdict delivered last month at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, MPS Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said “The nature of this kind of fare evasion operation unnecessarily places officers in potentially challenging interactions with the public. Since this incident happened, we have stopped our involvement in supporting Transport for London fare evasion operations, but we continue our presence on the bus network tackling violent crime.”
He added: “This verdict is a huge setback to our ability to rebuild trust with Londoners. We will learn the lessons from this and we apologise to the woman and the wider community who were deeply affected.
“Anyone who has seen the footage of this incident will be upset by how it escalated into a traumatic situation for a mother and her child.
“Despite the conviction, we will continue to support the officer and continue to support our workforce, to ensure officers have the confidence to act decisively and make arrests when they believe they have the powers to do so.”
Rick Prior, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation (MPF), said: “The MPF notes the sentencing of PC Perry Lathwood.
“We also note the judge accepted the dynamic and split-second challenges our officers policing the streets of London face.”
He added: “Police officers have no issue with scrutiny and accounting for their actions and use of force, but this has to take into account the reality of our role.
“Colleagues across London remain discouraged, dismayed and disheartened by this case.
“And worried that they too can be handed a criminal conviction for doing the roles the public and society expects of them.
“For doing their job.
“PC Lathwood has lodged an appeal against his conviction – and the MPF continues to fully support him throughout this process.”