Metropolitan police agrees payout over alleged race-discrimination case
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Version 0 of 1. The Metropolitan police has agreed to pay £120,000 in damages in an alleged race-discrimination case where seven officers were accused of assaulting a black motorist. Nordell Edmondson, who was pulled over by police while driving to buy nappies for his daughters, claimed he was struck with batons and sprayed with CS gas during an unlawful arrest. In an out-of-court settlement, the service apologised for the incident in Edgware in 2011, which Edmonson described as a "free-for-all" in which he was "pummelled" after being wrongfully accused of driving without insurance. Channel 4 News reported that the Met's total payout was £120,000, including £75,000 in legal costs, after Edmondson, 34, launched a civil claim for race discrimination, assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Describing the incident, the garage manager said: "[One of the officers] whacked me in the nose, then another officer comes over and bashes me in the head with a baton. "I couldn't do anything, I was sitting there just getting pummelled on, beaten, bashed in the head." When the case went to court, following his charge for resisting arrest, Edmondson was found not guilty and a judge said the arrest was unlawful. Scotland Yard refused to comment on the payout, but a letter to Edmondson from the police directorate of professional standards said: "I apologise sincerely for the incident ... and regret the significant distress that you and your family have endured as a consequence." Edmondson said he wanted to see "some sort of action" to hold officers to account. "I've got an apology, I've got some damages, but how many of these apology letters have they ... sent out in recent years? And nothing's changed." In a statement, the Metropolitan police said it had been asked to look again at the case. It said: "The MPS has settled the civil action brought by Nordell Edmondson. The MPS has also apologised and acknowledged the distress caused to him. "Following the errors regarding the arrest and prosecution of Edmondson highlighted by the crown court proceedings, the case was reviewed by the directorate of professional standards in 2012 and it was assessed that there was no misconduct by officers involved. "It was re-reviewed in January 2014 and as no new evidence had come to light the original assessment remained in place. "Following a recent request made in a letter from Edmondson's solicitor the matter has been referred to the DPS to consider once more." Labour MP Diane Abbott told Channel 4 News that the case was the "tip of the iceberg". She said: "Until officers get disciplined for incidents like this, these types of incidents will continue to happen." |