West Midlands Police deny 'misleading' allegations suspect's turban was stamped on
Police have denied allegations an officer stamped on a man's turban after it was removed during a search in the West Midlands.
Protests were held outside the Perry Barr custody suite on Wednesday evening after a video on social media claimed the turban had been forcibly removed and stamped on during an incident on Monday.
But West Midlands Police has now hit out at the claims – saying the turban had fallen to the floor but had not been stamped on and criticising the creator of the video for the "misleading" use of images from different incidents.
A spokesman for the force said: "We are deeply concerned that a video compilation circulating on social media infers that one of the stills included shows a man having his turban forcibly removed and stamped on in Perry Barr custody suite on Monday evening. This is not the case.
"The author has used an image from elsewhere giving an entirely misleading version of the events. The CCTV featured in this video is not connected to this incident.
"We can confirm that a man in custody was asked to remove his patka to be searched. It was removed by an officer in a private room to search for anything that could be harmful to the man or our custody officers.
"The head covering fell to the floor at one point, but was immediately retrieved and at no point was it stamped on."
Police said they are examining all the CCTV surrounding officers' interactions with the man in custody to establish if there was any inappropriate conduct, and have voluntarily referred the matter to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).
The spokesman added: "We have received a complaint and therefore we cannot go into further details while these enquiries are progressing.
"We understand the religious significance of head coverings to the Sikh faith and we know this incident has caused outrage and anger to the Sikh community and the wider public but we must stress that social media speculation based on supposition is unhelpful and inflammatory.
"We continue to strive for better relationships with the communities we serve and we are determined to hold to account any officer who does not adhere to the standards of professional behaviour."
Gurpreet Singh Anand, president of the Sikh Council UK, had criticised the man's treatment as "completely unacceptable" and said the incident was symptomatic of “growing animosity” between police in the region and the Sikh community.
West Midlands Police confirmed the suspect involved had been charged with obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty and released on bail to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on November 25.
He has also been charged with driving a vehicle when the vehicle registration mark fails to conform with regulations.
