Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams’ athlete boyfriend says he was ‘happily’ mocking officers in controversial stop-and-search but denies ‘routinely provoking police’
- Both of the international athletes believe they were racially profiled
- Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos said: ‘I’m laughing because I don’t know why I’m being stopped’
Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos told a misconduct hearing that he was ‘happily’ mocking officers during a controversial stop-and-search, but denied ‘routinely provoking police’.
Mr Dos Santos is the boyfriend of Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams. Both of the international athletes believe they were racially profiled during a ‘disturbing’ encounter with five Metropolitan Police officers on July 4, 2020.
The police followed them as they drove to their west London home from training with their then-three-month-old boy in the back seat of their Mercedes.
The couple were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons, after they pulled over outside their property, but nothing was found.
A disciplinary hearing in south-east London, where the five officers could be sacked if gross misconduct is proven, was shown footage on Friday taken by the pair from within the car in which Mr Dos Santos can be heard ‘mocking’ officers and laughing.
The 28-year-old, a Portuguese competitor in the 400m sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, said: ‘I’m laughing because I don’t know why I’m being stopped, because I knew that this stop would have ended up in them either just driving away or going away as all my other stops have happened.
Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos told a misconduct hearing that he was ‘happily’ mocking officers during a controversial stop-and-search, but denies ‘routinely provoking police’
Bianca Williams (pictured) and her boyfriend both believe they were racially profiled during a ‘disturbing’ encounter with five Metropolitan Police officers on July 4, 2020
Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos pictured outside Palestra House, central London, for the gross misconduct hearing of five Metropolitan Police officers over a stop and search of the two athletes
‘They make a big big deal out of everything…they search the whole vehicle, they say cannabis they say drugs. I knew I had nothing wrong on my vehicle so it’s me laughing, it’s going to be a pointless stop.’
READ MORE: Shocking moment Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams sobs in terror and shouts ‘My son is in the car. I need to look after him!’
The athlete denied the suggestion that ‘the truth is you routinely provoke police officers’.
‘I do not provoke police officers,’ he said. ‘You will see that they came out from their van … in seven seconds they had their batons raised.’
He further denied provoking police officers in relation to an incident in August 2022 in which Mr Dos Santos was stopped by different Metropolitan Police officers while driving a Tesla.
It was alleged by legal representatives of the five officers involved in the hearing on Friday that Mr Dos Santos ‘provocatively undertook’ a police vehicle in the 2022 incident.
The sprinter denied the allegation.
He wrote in a witness statement that his Tesla, in self-drive mode, ‘automatically manoeuvred its way around the police vehicle to prevent a collision’.
Metropolitan Police officers grab hold of Ricardo Dos Santos’ top and pull his arms behind his back and handcuff him
Team GB athlete Bianca Williams (left) and her Portuguese partner Mr Dos Santos (right) were detained by the Met Police in west London with their son (centre) in the backseat
The panel heard police enquiries with the electric car company found that Mr Dos Santos’ car would not have been able to change lanes and would not have undertaken when in self-drive mode.
The athlete insisted that ‘every single Tesla car’ has basic safety features.
‘What the car does, the steering wheel shakes and you have to grab hold of it,’ he said. ‘It was either going to the back of the (police) car … or grab the wheel and go around it. Regardless the car still performs its own manoeuvres when it is set on autopilot.’
Acting PS Rachel Simpson, Pc Allan Casey, Pc Jonathan Clapham, Pc Michael Bond and Pc Sam Franks deny all charges against them, which include allegations that they breached police standards over equality and diversity during the stop-and-search.
A/PS Simpson and Pcs Clapham, Bond and Franks also face allegations that their actions amounted to a breach of professional behaviour standards in relation to the use of force.
They are said to have failed in relation to their levels of authority, respect and courtesy, as well as in their duties and responsibilities.
Pc Casey is also accused of breaching professional standards in the way he carried out his duties and responsibilities or gave orders and instructions.
Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos pictured outside Palestra House, central London, for the gross misconduct hearing of five Metropolitan Police officers
It is also alleged that the honesty and integrity of Pcs Casey, Clapham, Bond and Franks breached professional behaviour standards.
Shocking footage was played during a gross misconduct hearing on Thursday which shows the couple’s Mercedes being pulled over by police. Ms Williams can be heard saying ‘he didn’t do anything’ as she opens the car door.
Once outside the car she is met with police officers who grab her arms and tell her to ‘relax’, as they put her in handcuffs. Ms Williams is visibly close to tears at this point.
In the footage released today, a police officer says: ‘He’s just being detained,’ as Ms Williams’ husband is put in handcuffs – she responds ‘For what?’
During the scuffle Ms Williams is visibly distressed and says: ‘Why are you touching me … get off me.’
The Mercedes was searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons. Nothing was found and the couple were released shortly after
Ms Williams won a Gold medal for Team GB in the 4x100m relays at the 2018 European and Commonwealth Games
Later in the footage Ms Williams is heard reassuring her baby who was crying during the incident, she said: ‘It’s alright, don’t worry.’
Ms Williams appears to find a female officers’ reason for pulling the couple over laughable, as she says: ‘Go and have a look. This is ridiculous.’
The police officer is heard saying: ‘To make off from police is very unusual in that manner,’ Bianca responds by saying: ‘This is our route home, you were already following us.’
The police officer then claims the couple had gone through a red light which the Olympian denied.
At the hearing on Thursday, Ms Williams denied suggestions from James Hines, A/PS Simpson’s lawyer, that her partner could have acted differently to avoid police attention, insisting that ‘he can’t change the colour of his skin’.
Bianca Williams sobs in terror and shouts ‘My son is in the car. I need to look after him!’ as Met police officers pull her from the car and handcuff her
She said: ‘It isn’t easy constantly being pulled over for no reason – he’s been pulled over so many times.
‘When it gets to 10 times I feel his frustration. It’s difficult.’
When asked by Mr Hines why she had never been pulled over by police, Ms Williams said: ‘I am a female and he (Mr Dos Santos) is a black male and black males are 10 times more likely to get stopped.’
Separate bodycam footage shows Mr Dos Santos’ experience. He claimed officers approached his car aggressively with ‘glass cutters and batons raised’ when he pulled up outside his house before they briefly detained him and his partner.
Olympic sprinter Mr Dos Santos pleads ‘what did I do?’ as police officers swarm him and scream ‘get out of the car’ in front of his baby son.
Body-worn camera footage, released by the IOPC, shows five Metropolitan Police officers surround his Mercedes near his home.
One can be seen raising his police-issued baton above his shoulder and shouting at the international sprinter to ‘get out’ while a female officer frantically screams ‘there’s a baby in the car’. Mr Dos Santos exits the car and, clearly looking distressed and confused, backs away and pleads ‘what did I do?’.
Two Scotland Yard officers grab hold of his top before pulling his arms behind his back and handcuffing him as the sprinter shouts ‘my kid’s in the car, bro’ before he screams out in pain.
The sprinter ‘feared’ for the safety of his partner and Team GB athlete Bianca Williams when police handcuffed them in front of their baby boy, a police misconduct hearing heard
Ms Williams (pictured) was handcuffed for 18 minutes while her partner Mr Dos Santos was handcuffed for 45 minutes
Mr Dos Santos, 28, repeatedly asks throughout the seven-minute footage why he has been detained and followed to which officers allege he was ‘trying to evade them’ and then claim ‘they can smell weed in the car’.
The sprinter laughs and replies: ‘Do you know who I am? You can smell cannabis? Are you dumb?’
At one point the sprinter, who competed for Portugal in the 400m sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, tells officers he is bleeding to which they say it has been caused ‘by his actions’.
‘You guys were following me for no reason,’ Mr Dos Santos says. ‘I knew you were following me, for what reason? Look at that, I’m bleeding.’
‘You guys are so funny, I’m an athlete. Look at my other car, bro. Check my plates. That one and that one.’
Towards the end of the footage Mr Dos Santos accuses officers of being racists and says he his taking every single of their names.
The six-week hearing continues on Monday at 10am.
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