Met Police officer fined for grabbing woman in mistaken bus fare dodging arrest

A Metropolitan Police officer who “manhandled” and wrongly arrested a woman for bus fare evasion in front of her distraught young son has been fined £1,500.

Pc Perry Lathwood grabbed Jocelyn Agyemang by the arm, causing bruising.

A crowd gathered, with people filming the officer and asking him why he had arrested her, and a video of Ms Agyemang becoming increasingly distressed went viral.

Ms Agyemang said in a victim statement that the incident was “deeply humiliating and embarrassing” and that Lathwood had a “look of contempt in his eyes”.

She said the event had a “devastating effect” on her and her young son, who have now both lost confidence in the police service.

The incident was on 21 July last year in Whitehorse Road in Croydon, south London, as Ms Agyemang was dropping her son off at her mother’s house before heading to an appointment.

Police officers were helping ticket inspectors on a bus in Croydon, and a bus inspector asked her to show whether she had paid her fare.

Paul Jarvis, prosecuting , told the trial that Lathwood, 50, put a hand on the woman, but she moved away, so he grabbed her arm and arrested her for fare evasion.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram ruled it was not necessary for Lathwood to “grab the woman’s arm, arrest her and handcuff her”.

He continued: “She was difficult… but there were not reasonable grounds to suggest arrest was necessary.

“The officer made an error of judgment and overreacted. Handcuffing inflamed the situation even further.”

After Ms Agyemang was arrested, it was confirmed that she had paid her fare and she was de-arrested at the scene.

She told the court she had felt “violated” by the incident, and added: “I just felt a bit degraded because I had not done anything wrong.”

The judge said he did not find it was “an abuse of power”, but was instead a “mistake”.

The court heard that Lathwood does not accept the conviction and that he will appeal against it.

On top of the fine, he was ordered to pay £200 to the victim in compensation, £650 in costs and a victim surcharge of £600.

Ms Agyemang said in her personal statement: “His comment that I was a ‘daft cow’ was particularly degrading and I believe he intended it to be degrading.”

“I have lost all confidence in the police service,” she added.

The mother also said her son was scared during the incident, and “now doesn’t trust the police”.

In Lathwood’s defence, the court was told “there was no harm intended (and) he was trying to do his job”.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the verdict presented a “huge setback to our ability to rebuild trust with Londoners”.

He continued: “We will learn the lessons from this and we apologise to the woman and the wider community who were deeply affected.

“Anyone who has seen the footage of this incident will be upset by how it escalated into a traumatic situation for a mother and her child.

“Since this incident happened, we have stopped our involvement in supporting Transport for London fare evasion operations, but we continue our presence on the bus network tackling violent crime.”