‘Racist Attack’ on fire-fighter IPCC says

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has rejected the police’s report into the stun gunning of Edric Kennedy-Macfoy, a Black fire-fighter. Mr Kennedy-Macfoy, 29, was off-duty when he saw a young man hurl a rock at the police van. He then approached officers (in his car) to help identify the young man, when the group of officers turned on him believing he was the suspect because of his skin colour.

The police behaved like “wild animals” claimed Mr Kennedy-Macfoy. The officers dragged him from his car, violently assaulted him and then shot him with a taser weapon. The assault took place in Harrow, North London around 3.30am on 4 September 2011.

Mr Kennedy-Macfoy, who is also a special constable, was driving his Audi wearing a three-piece pinstriped suit when he saw and noted down, the description of the young man hurling rocks at the police. He flagged down the police van, to give them the description, it was then he was abused. The police began hurling verbal abuse at him before dragging him from his car.

The Metropolitan Police conducted an internal investigation, following a complaint by Mr Kennedy-Macfoy. The report claimed that officers were in a ‘stressful’ situation, as they had to deal with a group of party-goers who had been throwing missiles at them.

Inspector David Bergum who was present at the incident said, 

“I couldn't say he was anything to do with the party. The party was all black. He was black. He had driven through the cordon. I had to do a quick risk assessment.”

Mr Kennedy-Macfoy was found not guilty last year for obstruction of the police, on the night in question. The officer who discharged the weapon admitted during the two-day trial, that he had not warned Mr Kennedy-Macfoy that he was about to be shot. Not to warn someone, before you use a stun gun, contravenes Home Office guidelines.   

The IPCC has rejected the police report and has ordered a reinvestigation into the incident. The IPCC rejecting a police report is unprecedented, initially the IPCC decided to allow the police to conduct their own investigation. However, they have reversed this decision and have now decided to conduct a full independent inquiry.

The IPCC Commissioner, Jennifer Izekor said the watchdog would thoroughly review the evidence already obtained and “conduct further inquiries” as necessary. She went on to say,

“We need to be satisfied that Mr Kennedy-Macfoy's serious allegations have been comprehensively examined. We have informed Mr Kennedy-Macfoy's solicitors that our independent investigation is under way and will be conducted as quickly as possible.”

The incident will now hopefully be resolved and those who attacked Mr Kennedy-Macfoy will be prosecuted. However, while this decision is indeed welcomed, there are many other cases like this which go unheard. It is important to remember that, black men are 26-times more likely to be stopped and searched than white men and 75% of young black men are on the police DNA database. These figures are a clear indication of disproportionate targeting of black men by the police.

The publicity of this case may have helped to ensure that justice was properly served, but there are many other cases without any publicity which get lost in statics. We must now turn our attention to these, as incidents like the assault of Mr Kennedy-Macfoy, cannot be stopped from occurring again until these unheard cases are heard.      

Usman Butt