Actor condemns inquiry for ruling out race in arrest after witnessing car crash

The Hairspray and Sex Education actor Reece Richards has condemned the police watchdog for refusing to consider race in its investigation of Met officers who arrested and pepper-sprayed him.

- Aamna Mohdin

The 34-year-old was walking home in west London last September after performing in Hairspray when a car crashed into a lamp-post nearby. Two white men fled the scene. When Metropolitan police officers arrived seconds later, Richards pointed out the suspects' directions. He said that, instead of pursuing them, an officer shouted at him to get on the ground and pointed a pepper spray at him.

He recalled telling the officers: "I'm not part of this. I'm a performer. I've just done Hairspray, I'm Seaweed. I tried to give him as much information about myself: 'I'm an actor, I've been in Sex Education.'" He also told them he lived across the street with his mother, pointing to the flat. But the officer, Richards said, "saw me as a Black boy that is a part of this". The actor said he began backing against a wall with his hands raised, and continued pleading, until two more officers arrived.

He said officers shouted: "Get on the fucking floor!" and tackled him to the ground. "Three people on top of me, they're pummelling my hands into my back, pushing my head into the floor." He said he was then pepper-sprayed in the face and handcuffed.