LONDON—A police officer has been convicted of assaulting a bus passenger after a video of him manhandling her during a routine ticket check went viral.
More than 10 million people watched the video after it was posted on social media platform X in July 2023 by Saskia Cole, a Black Lives Matter activist.
On Friday District Judge Tan Ikram, sitting at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, found PC Perry Lathwood, 50, guilty of assaulting Jocelyn Agyemang on July 21, 2023 in Croydon, south London.
She suffered a bruised arm during the encounter, which followed a routine checking of tickets by Transport for London (TfL) revenue protection inspectors, who were supported by police officers.
It is understood the police’s involvement in such checks have been suspended since the incident.
TfL is estimated to lose £120 million a year in fare evasion on buses and trains.
Earlier this month a trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court was told Ms. Agyemang—who was travelling with her young son—felt “very violated” during the incident.
Judge Ikram said Mr. Lathwood’s evidence “lacked credibility” and did not believe he arrested her because he feared for the safety of her and her son during the incident.
He said: “That is completely without justification and fanciful. I simply do not believe him.”
Judge Ikram said, “There were no reasonable grounds for her arrest,” and he ruled Mr. Lathwood made an “error of judgment” and “over-reacted” when Ms. Agyemang tried to walk off.
He also mentioned the evidence of a TfL official who described Ms. Agyemang’s actions as a “performance” and a “stitch-up” and said she was like an “actress in a movie.”
Judge Ikram said he did not believe the incident was “staged” and said the witness’s account was “without foundation.”
Judge Ikram adjourned sentencing until June 14 and asked the probation service to compile pre-sentence reports.
During the trial prosecutor Paul Jarvis said Ms. Agyemang and her son got off the bus and she was asked to show how she had paid her fare by a bus inspector.
It later transpired Ms. Agyemang had a valid Oyster card which she had used to travel on the bus, but Mr. Jarvis said: “She does not hand it over and she walks off. It is at this moment that PC Lathwood becomes involved.”
The prosecutor said she tried to move away as Mr. Lathwood put a hand on her and he responded by grabbing her arm and arresting her for fare evasion.
A crowd gathered and at least one person began filming the incident and questioned why she had been arrested.
Video footage was showed to the court and Ms. Agyemang could be heard asking the officer: “Can you get off me, please? Can you get off my arm? You don’t understand, I have done nothing wrong.”
Mr. Jarvis said Mr. Lathwood then handcuffed her before another officer took her Oyster card and checked it.
After discovering she had paid, Ms. Agyemang was de-arrested and told she was free to go.
‘There Was No Necessity for an Arrest’
Mr. Jarvis told the court: “There was no necessity for an arrest. The officer in deciding to carry out this arrest, and deciding to lay hands on her and to manhandle her, was acting unlawfully because he had no justification.”“There was not a legitimate justification for using force to arrest her at that time. Even if it was necessary to arrest her, the level of force was not reasonable,” he added.
Ms. Agyemang gave evidence to the court and said: “I just felt like they did not care. I just felt a bit degraded because I had not done anything wrong.”
Kevin Baumber, defending Mr. Lathwood, asked her why she had walked off.
She replied, “At the time I was just thinking about getting to my mother’s house.”
Passenger Described It as ‘Very Scary’
“With things I have experienced in my past, when someone is holding me, especially when I feel like I have done nothing wrong, it is very scary for me,” she added.Mr. Lathwood also gave evidence and said he had “no idea” what other course of action he could have taken and said he arrested her to stop her from leaving the scene.
Asked why he arrested her, he said, “Because of her actions and her refusal to show that card to other people who had continuously asked her to do so.”
He said he did not explain to her why she had been arrested because he was waiting for his colleague to check the Oyster card to confirm there had been an offence committed.
“If the card had come back as not paid we would have progressed and explained everything to her if she had allowed us,” said Mr. Lathwood.
He described her as an “unknown threat” to herself and to him.
Mr. Baumber asked her why he raised his voice and called her a “daft cow” at one point.
He described it as a form of “tactical communication” and said he was concerned she would step into oncoming traffic.
When Ms. Cole shared the video on X she wrote: “WTF so this is how we do it @metpoliceuk over a bus fare …. In front of her child …. And you wonder why people are scared and hate the police ….. are you having a laugh ... #nojusticenopeace when we getting systemic change?!?”
The Metropolitan Police then responded with a full statement but added, “Agree the video does look concerning but it is only a snapshot of the wider incident.”
In the statement they claimed Ms. Agyemang—who was not identified by name—“had attempted to walk off and became abusive.”
They said that was why she had been arrested.
On Friday, Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said in a statement: “This verdict is a huge setback to our ability to rebuild trust with Londoners. We will learn the lessons from this and we apologise to the woman and the wider community who were deeply affected.”
He added that the Met is waiting to hear if Mr. Lathwood will appeal the conviction.
“The nature of this kind of fare evasion operation unnecessarily places officers in potentially challenging interactions with the public. 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,” Mr. Twist said.
The Attorney General’s Office later said it had “determined that the sentences are not eligible under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.”
