Police smash man’s car window after he gave TV interview on police racism
'The fact this all happened as I was coming back from an interview about getting stopped: you couldn’t make it up.'
A man had his car window smashed by police officers who wrongly accused him of concealing drugs, just moments after he had given a TV interview about institutional racism in the police force.
Ryan Colaço said officers aggressively tailgated him near Northumberland Park in London and ‘within 11 seconds’ were banging on his window.
After asking why he had been stopped, Mr Colaço, 30, was dragged from his BMW and put in handcuffs. When he asked again, officers said he was acting nervously and there was a smell of cannabis.
Ryan’s job is to help find film locations and said his trust in the police force was already low, having been stopped and searched ‘about 20 times’.
Six days later he appeared on Channel 4 when the video of the first incident gained traction on social media. Afterwards, at about 4.30pm near Cannon Street station in central London, he was stopped again.
Officers in the second video said they needed to search him because he was seen ‘dashing stuff up in his waistband’.
They demanded he get out the car and when Mr Colaço asked not to be put in handcuffs, officers smashed his window, dragged him out, and forced him to the ground where he said he hit his head.
Put in handcuffs, he was later drug-tested, taken to a nearby police station and strip-searched. He would be held in a cell for 12 hours before eventually being released after nothing was found, the Guardian reported.
Leaving the station at 5am, he said he walked a mile to get his impounded car. He said he was again approached by officers who asked why he was out at such a time. At 9.30am Mr Colaço finally got his car back.
He said: ‘When the officer drove my car out, I saw there was still glass everywhere.
‘I had my head in my hands. They said they won’t clean the glass or pay for the window and my car was trashed too. The fact this all happened as I was coming back from an interview about getting stopped: you couldn’t make it up.’
Ryan eventually drove home and visited Romford’s Queens hospital before raising formal complaints.
He added: ‘As far as I’m concerned, criminal damage and assault happened to me on that day. It was a very traumatic experience and I think about it every single day.’
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said both matters were being investigated.
Met commander Treena Fleming said anybody concerned about a stop-and-search should come forward and report it.
A spokesperson for City of London police said a man was arrested for obstructing or resisting a constable in the execution of their duty, after he failed to comply with directions from officers regarding a drugs search. They said he has since been released under investigation.
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