Hackney: young black teen confronted by armed police over water pistol mistaken for real gun by officer

The mother of a young black teenager who was confronted by armed police in Hackney after a Met Police officer mistook his water pistol for a real gun has said that she feels "betrayed" by authorities.

The 13-year-old boy, who has not been named, was rammed off of his bike by a police van in the east London neighbourhood before officers handcuffed the young boy in July 2023. Armed police from the Met Police and the City of London Police then began circling him.

He was said to be having a water fight with his younger sibling when a patrolling police officer reported a suspected firearms incident. The Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) has condemned the incident, saying that the water pistols, which were coloured blue and white and pink and white, were clearly toys.

The APA said in a statement: “The subsequent treatment of Child X and the horrific scene that unfolded was appalling. A police van rammed Child X off his bicycle, knocking him to the ground.

“He was surrounded by armed police officers who pointed their firearms at him and arrested him on suspicion of being in possession of a firearm. He was de-arrested at the scene soon afterwards, once his mother had arrived and challenged what was happening, but she too was treated with contempt by the officers when she sought an explanation for their conduct from them.”

According to the boy's mother, the officer at the scene described her as "aggressive" after she attempted to challenge the arrest of her son. In a press conference on Thursday (19 October), a full statement from the boy's mother was released, which said: "The attitude of the police to him - and to me - is shown up in the words of the senior officer at the scene when I protested to him about the conduct of his officers: he told me I was lucky that they had not arrested my son.

"For what? For playing with a brightly coloured plastic water gun with his younger sibling on the streets behind our home? For being a black boy on the streets of Hackney?

"I know - and the police know - that they would not have treated my son in the way they did if he had been a white 13-year-old boy. I know that they would not have treated me with the contempt shown towards me or described me as 'aggressive' if I was not black."

Speaking of her children, the distraught mother added: "How do I help them cope with the fact that the police present at the scene seemed unable or unwilling to apologise, explain or answer for what they had done? I feel let down and betrayed, not only by the police, but also by the IOPC, and by the whole system that is supposed to look after our children, black or white: they deserve better."

Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, in charge of policing for Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said he had apologised to the family. He said: “This incident was understandably extremely distressing for the boy involved as well as the rest of his family. We know it may cause public concern and we want to help the public understand why we responded in the way we did. This does not in any way detract from our recognition of the trauma caused to the boy, for which I apologised soon afterwards to his family.”

An internal investigation by the Met Police found that no misconduct rules had been breached by the officers at the scene. A further complaint of racial bias is still under investigation by the police force's standard department, with the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) watchdog saying that the Met were undertaking both investigations independently. A City of London Police spokesperson said: “As common practice, a firearms unit from the City of London Police attended in support of Metropolitan Police firearms units at an incident on July 19 2023.”