The 13-year-old black boy rammed off his bike after police mistook his water pistol for a real gun is still suffering from nightmares three months later, his trauma counsellor has said.
The incident – which happened in July in Hackney, east London – has led to an apology from the Metropolitan police, with the embattled force accepting the boy suffered trauma after being confronted by armed officers who pointed their weapons at him, handcuffed and arrested him.
He was playing in a street near his home just before 4pm on 19 July with a blue-and-white water pistol with his younger sister, who had a similar pink-and-white toy. A passing police officer believed a real gun was being brandished and armed police were called.
The boy’s mother said she felt “betrayed” and “broken” by the Met, describing how her intervention led to officers de-arresting her son minutes after they had placed handcuffs on him.
Courtney Brown, who has provided counselling to the boy, said he and other youngsters caught up in the ordeal are feeling anxious, fearful and angry. “He is having nightmares, reliving the incident. He is trying to get on with his life,” he said.
Brown added that another young girl who witnessed the boy’s ordeal was also suffering trauma, triggered by the police, which could blight her life. “She said when she hears a siren, she stands still.”
Brown, who runs a community group called Father2Father, said: “Why are our children having to manage such emotions at such a young age?”
Speaking on Thursday, the boy’s mother said: “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.
“That is why I hope that the police may yet find the courage and the integrity they need to look at what went wrong here, to bring the officers involved to answer for their wrongdoing.”
The former Met officer Leroy Logan, who served as the deputy borough commander in Hackney, called for officers involved to be removed from the streets while an inquiry took place. “These officers should be taken off operational duties,” he said.
Logan alleged some officers “roaming the streets of London with guns” felt unaccountable. He said the Met was suffering from a failure of leadership on this issue and called for the police watchdog to investigate.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has so far refused to investigate, despite Scotland Yard referring the case to the watchdog twice. That will be challenged by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and a spokesperson said the deputy mayor for policing and crime would write to the IOPC and “ask them to independently investigate”.
Lee Jasper, the former policing director for London when Ken Livingstone was mayor, said: “Not only is a child having nightmares, not only is a mother replaying a scene which could have led to tragic consequences for her son – but those who witnessed it are also suffering as a consequence of what they saw that day.”
He claimed there were “increasingly violent interactions between police and black children”, with black youngsters “seen by police officers and teachers as adults instead of children”.
DCS James Conway, who leads policing in Hackney, said no misconduct issues had been identified and added: “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 … I apologised soon afterwards to his family.”
The Met was found to be institutionally racist by its own review, which was conducted by Louise Casey. The commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, rejects that finding but accepts the Met suffers from deep-seated problems on race and has promised reform.
