Met police officer fined £1,500 for wrongly arresting woman on bus in Croydon

A Metropolitan Police officer has been fined £1,500 for assault after he manhandled and wrongly arrested a woman for bus ticket evasion in front of her young son.

Pc Perry Lathwood, from the Metropolitan Police’s Road Policing Command, grabbed Jocelyn Agyemang by the arm, causing bruising during the arrest on July 21 last year in Whitehorse Road, Croydon, south London.

Ms Agyemang said the incident was “deeply humiliating and embarrassing” and that Lathwood had “a look of contempt” that day, in a victim personal statement read at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Also in the statement, she said the events had a “devastating effect” on her and her young son, who had now lost faith in the police service.

Senior Deputy District Judge Tan Ikram sentenced the 50-year-old officer, from Normans Bay, East Sussex, saying: “On this occasion, in my view, the officer overstepped the mark and made a mistake.

“It was not out of bad faith.

“He faced a passenger who I previously described as difficult and challenging, but in my opinion he made a momentary error of judgement, sort of in the heat of the moment.”

The judge added that he did not think it was an “abuse of power” but a “mistake”.

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

As well as the fine, he was ordered to pay the victim £200 compensation, £650 costs and a £600 victim surcharge.

He will have to pay the total sum of £2,950 within 56 days.

Ms Agyemang said in her personal statement: “Pc Lathwood manipulated me in circumstances where it was not justified but there was a look of contempt in his eyes so it is hard for me to get past him.

“His comment that I was a ‘mad cow’ was particularly degrading and I think he intended it to be degrading.”

“I have lost all faith 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 “no harm was intended (and) he was trying to do his job”.

Mrs Agyemang was dropping her son off at his mother’s house before heading to a meeting in Marylebone scheduled for 12.30pm last July.

At the time, police officers were assisting ticket inspectors on a bus in Croydon.

After she and her son got off the bus at around 11am, she was asked to show that she had paid for her ticket by a bus inspector.

Lathwood previously claimed he acted to protect Ms Agyemang’s child, but this was dismissed as “fantasy” in the final judgment, with the judge saying the officer’s evidence “lacked all credibility”.

Prosecutor Paul Jarvis said Lathwood grabbed the woman but she pulled away, so he then grabbed her arm and arrested her for eluding.

A crowd gathered, people filming the officer and asking him why he arrested her.

Mr Jarvis said Lathwood continued to hold her, demanding she swipe her card. He also handcuffed her.

Another officer took his Oyster card from his hand and went with him to see if he had paid.

It was confirmed that Ms Agyemang paid her fare and was detained at the scene.

Following Lathwood’s sentencing last month, Assistant Commissioner of Police Matt Twist said the verdict represented a “huge setback in our ability to rebuild trust with Londoners”.