Police officer from East Sussex fined for assault after manhandling woman on bus
Pc Perry Lathwood wrongly suspected the victim of not buying a bus ticket while on duty in Croydon
An East Sussex Metropolitan Police officer has been fined £1,500 for assault after manhandling and wrongly arresting a woman for bus fare evasion in front of her young son.
Pc Perry Lathwood, attached to the Metropolitan Police's Road Traffic Policing Command, grabbed Jocelyn Agyemang by the arm, causing bruising injuries during the arrest on July 21 last year in Whitehorse Road, Croydon, south London.
Ms Agyemang said the incident was "deeply humiliating and embarrassing" and that Lathwood had a "look of contempt in his eyes" that day, in a victim personal statement read out at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
Also in the statement, she said the events had a "devastating effect" on her and her young son who have now both lost confidence in the police service.
Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram sentenced the 50-year-old officer, of Normans Bay, saying: "On this occasion in my judgment the officer crossed the line and got it wrong.
"It was not through bad faith.
"He faced a passenger who I have previously described as difficult and challenging but in my judgment he made a momentary error of judgment as it were in the heat of the moment."