PC Charlie Harrison, 39, attached to the Violent Crime Task Force, had been convicted by majority verdict on Friday, 26 March after a five-day trial at Southwark Crown Court. PC Harrison was sentenced at the same court on April 12 to two years and three months in prison.
The conviction relates to an incident that happened on December 31 2018 around 14:15hrs. A man, aged in his 40s, was walking with his two sons along Sebert Road, Forest Gate, E7. The man was approached by PC Harrison, who was on duty and in plain clothes, with the apparent intention of conducting a police stop.
PC Harrison then used his foot to strike the man’s legs. This caused him to fall to the ground, and as a result, suffer a fracture to the knee. The injured man was treated in hospital for his injuries. He reported the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as a public complaint in January 2019.
An investigation was launched by officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards and PC Harrison was charged with GBH in August 2019.
The trial judge said that he strongly suspected that Harrison stopped the victim and his sons because they were Black. Judge Gregory Perrins said “Had Mr Abrahams and his sons been white I suspect that you would have simply drove on by; this was in my judgement a clear case of racial profiling.”
The Metropolitan Police will further investigate whether race played a part in the attack. Earlier this month, a serving Metropolitan Police officer was convicted of right-wing terrorism offenses.
