Asian man ‘pinned down by police’ after leaving Pret a Manger without buying anything
Kashif Baig says he has been left traumatised by the experience.
A British Pakistani man says he was pinned down by police in a stop and search after he left a branch of Pret without buying anything.
Kashif Baig, 26, went inside to get a drink, but the queue was too long, so he left again.
Police said they questioned him after he was then seen going into the underground and coming back out. He did not give his address and officers claimed he was ‘evasive’.
The Metropolitan Police website says: ‘You don’t have to give [information like name and address] if you don’t want to; unless the police officer says they’re reporting you for an offence.’
Mr Baig, from Hounslow, says he was then handcuffed and wrestled to the ground ‘for no reason’.
He told Metro.co.uk the incident had left him feeling ‘very traumatised’. He said he has had to speak to his workplace about it ‘and I have been to the doctors as my back has been aching. I have very bad anxiety leaving the house now too.’
Police wrote in his stop and search form which he shared on Twitter: ‘Officers observed Mr Baig being evasive in Waterloo station. He entered and exited Pret in quick succession making no purchases.
‘He then went to the underground and came up immediately. When officers went to speak with Mr Baig he continued to be evasive, failed to answer officers’ questions and did not account for his whereabouts.’
He told Metro.co.uk that when he was put on the ground ‘I started screaming and shouting for help.
‘I was pinned to the floor by another two officers and one of them grabbed my phone off me when I tried to call for help.’
He shouted out his mum’s phone number to a bystander watching, who sent his mum a text explaining what happened saying: ‘It was very scary and he was alone. So I stopped to help where I could.’.
Mr Baig says he has now submitted a formal complaint about what happened.
This is the second time he has been stopped and searched, but he said the first time was a ‘completely different experience. It was very polite, I was taken to the side away from the public, the officer was so friendly and I wasn’t stopped by six officers at the same time.
‘This incident I was surrounded by around 20 officers while I was on the floor.’
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘On Friday, 4 September at approximately 5.45pm a male was stopped and searched in Waterloo Station.
‘As a result of this stop, a complaint has been received by the Metropolitan Police which is being fully investigated.’
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