Black child handcuffed after "play fighting" with "white friends"
The Metropolitan police says no offences were identified.
Black child handcuffed after “play fighting” with “white friends”
A charity boss tackling youth violence has accused the Metropolitan police of adultifying the boy as he says Black children don’t get to be children.
STORY BY MELISSA SIGODO
JULY 27, 2026
A Black child was handcuffed on the ground and detained by police officers after “play fighting” with “his white friends”.
In a viral clip shared on social media of the incident which occurred on Saturday July 25, it showed a Black boy being handcuffed on the floor with an officer standing over him in Isle of Dogs, east London.
A voice in the video can be heard saying, “be gentle, he’s a child” while the boy asks the officer why he is being detained as he pleads saying, “I haven’t done anything.”
The police officer tells the boy that he’s been detained for a Section 1 search on the grounds that he was seen “fighting” to which the boy interjects and says he was “play fighting.”
A man witnessing the interaction can be heard telling the officer that the boy has “tears running down his face” and that he is “scared” before the child is taken away by two officers.
Now, the Metropolitan police have told the Community Reporter that after searching the boy, no offences were identified.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: “We are aware of a video circulating on social media of a boy being detained and searched in the Isle of Dogs at the weekend.
“Videos online often only show a snapshot of what took place, without any context or background information.
“Officers were on patrol close to Alexia Square at 20:30hrs on Saturday, 25 July when they witnessed a group who appeared to be fighting.
“It was not clear from a distance how old those in the group were.
“On noticing the police officers, the group ran from the area and dispersed, discarding items – including a balaclava – as they did so.
“Officers pursued two of the group on foot and detained one close to Pepper Street, where a stop and search was carried out.
“Following engagement with him and the rest of the group, no offences were identified and all were given words of advice around their behaviour including about running from police when challenged and wearing balaclavas which, while not an offence in itself, has the potential to intimidate the public and will inevitably draw the attention of officers.”
But since the video has gone viral online, the Metropolitan police has been accused of “adultifying” the child.
Ben Lindsay OBE, the CEO of Power the Fight - a charity tackling youth violence said watching the video ‘upset’ him.
He said: “ It’s shocking, it’s upsetting. It makes you angry.
“I don’t think Black children are allowed to be children. There’s a history in this country of the Met police looking at young Black boys and girls in a much more of adult fashion than they deserve. So, it’s that whole thing of adultification.
“The way he was handcuffed when he was put to the floor. Was there a normal way to detain or question that young man without putting on handcuffs? Putting him on the floor? Bending his arm?
“There’s a lot of questions which should be asked about the Met police and how the police continue to engage with the Black community. Particularly our young boys and girls.”
Black people are four times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people and a 2026 study Investigating Disproportionality in Stop and Search by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and King’s College London found that the grounds used to justify stops and searches of Black Londoners were “vaguer than those used for White Londoners.”
Reasons for stop and search on Black people included wearing concealing clothing, being in a high crime area known for robbery and weapons, or being given grounds for Stop and Search that don’t make it clear what is being searched for.
In the video of the boy being arrested, the officer says that they had seen the children fighting but didn’t know what was happening.
The officer goes on to say that they had “issues” with children as young as the boy “carrying weapons” and that the street was “well known.”
Charity boss Ben says that stop and searches that lead to no further action “happen again and again” which “traumatises” children.
He said: “When the police are doing stop and search, there needs to be an explanation and there needs to be a lot more care for the young people because that young boy now is going to have a very unfortunate view of the police.
“What it comes down to is that there’s a lack of care for our Black children. The way he was put into handcuffs, the way he was put to the floor. The long term effects on that poor child. It’s heartbreaking.”
Since the police have been collaborating with the police from the USA and Israel in particular the level of unnecessary restraints have increased. I have issues with context of the search but accepting at face value that there was genuine concern about the ‘play fighting’, I am not convinced that there was any reason to put him on the ground and handcuffing him in order to search him.
I think the general public need to have a new conversation about the training of the police and the methods being used. They kick people in the head and say that we, the general public, don’t understand that this is necessary to make them comply. Yet, we rarely see incidents where it started as a conversation where the police have articulated what they are doing and the person has refused to cooperate.