Ken Marsh, the Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, has called on top brass within the Met to release body-worn camera footage of a traffic stop involving Ricardo dos Santos.
Santos was stopped in his Tesla on the A40 in west London early on Sunday morning. He shared some partial footage of the stop on his Twitter account that was recorded by the in-car cameras in his Tesla.
Following the stop, a spokesperson for MPS Westminster said:
‘We are aware of footage on social media showing part of a stop on a car.
‘At about 04:00 hours on Sunday 14th August, armed officers were on routine patrol in a marked police vehicle.
‘They saw a car travelling eastbound on the A40 Westway and were concerned the driver may be using a mobile phone at the wheel.
‘The officers clearly indicated for the car to pull over, but it failed to do so, and they called for further assistance. The driver stopped about five minutes later in Orsett Terrace W2, and the officers spoke to him about why they wanted to stop the vehicle.
‘Following the conversation the vehicle was allowed on its way. We have since contacted the driver via Twitter to invite him to contact us if he would like to discuss this matter further.’
In the tweets shared by Santos regarding the stop, he wrote:
‘Not surprised I had to go through this again. Whilst driving home last night 7 armed Met Police officers stopped me because they thought I was on my phone whilst driving.
‘At their request, I pulled over when safe to do so.
‘After I stopped two officers ran towards either side of the car, one fist clenched banged on my window and tried opening the car door. Not knowing how to use a Tesla handle he took out his baton out of frustration ready to smash the glass.
‘Annoyed that 2 years down nothing has changed but they still manage to over police.. why do 7 armed officers need to be present when I was alone. 2 or 3 max would of been enough.’
Responding to Santos’ tweet, one social media user commented:
‘You are on the A40 in town Wood Lane jct , you didn’t stop till Orsett Terrace W2 around 2 miles? No wonder they acted like they did probably thought you were failing to stop’
‘Foxtrot Cop’ tweeted:
‘S.163 RTA: ‘A person driving a motor vehicle on a road must stop the vehicle on being required to do so by a constable in uniform.’ The driver clearly fails to do so. Multiple armed cops don’t stop motorists for using their mobile phone. But, cool story, bro’.
Ken Marsh, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing more than 30,000 rank-and-file officers in London, told the Standard:
“I’ve been a big supporter of releasing body-worn video across the board. It should be available in the same way the public do against us.
“We’ve got nothing to hide at all. If officers did, they shouldn’t be in the job.”
In a later tweet, Santos said that he would be consulting with his lawyer.
Santos was later invited to appear on ‘Good Morning Britain’ to talk about the stop. It is not known if GMB also invited a member of the Metropolitan Police Federation to give the officers side of the story.
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Met Police release the full in-car and body worn video’s time you came out in support of your officer’s. Never allow someone to set their own agenda especially on social media.