A police officer has been charged with assault of a woman in relation to the arrest of a passenger when she failed to produce her ticket or pass on a bus stopped in Whitehorse Road last July.
The Metropolitan Police announced yesterday that PC Perry Lathwood, 49, who is attached to the road traffic policing command, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on February 14 charged with assault by beating in relation to bruising injuries caused to the woman’s arm during the incident.
An investigation was carried out by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
“At the conclusion of our investigation in December, we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, who authorised charges against the officer,” the IOPC said in a statement yesterday.
Video of the incident, which showed the woman and her young son in great distress at a bus stop on Whitehorse Road, went viral on social media.
The woman was later de-arrested after it was confirmed she had paid the fare.
Sources have advised Inside Croydon that following this incident, Transport for London suspended all fare evasion checks on its buses across the capital for several weeks; in Croydon, the fare checks were suspended for longer still.
In October, the IOPC released a statement which revealed that the incident was submitted to them for investigation by the police in Croydon after the Met had received a complaint from the woman’s family alleging racial profiling and verbal abuse by an officer.
The woman subsequently submitted a further complaint of her own.
“The news that an officer has been charged with assault will undoubtedly cause a great deal of concern,” said Ch Supt Andy Brittain, the borough commander.
“Officers know they must be able to justify their use of force. The Metropolitan Police Service has written to the IOPC seeking urgent clarity on the reasons for the charging decision.”
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