PC Perry Lathwood Guilty Of Assault Of Woman On Bus 

A Metropolitan Police officer has been found guilty of assault after improperly arresting a woman for bus fare evasion in the presence of her young son.

Pc Perry Lathwood, aged 50 and residing in Norman’s Bay, East Sussex, grabbed Jocelyn Agyemang by the arm, resulting in bruising injuries during the incident on July 21 last year on Whitehorse Road, Croydon, south London.

Ms. Agyemang had been dropping her son off at her mother’s house before heading to a scheduled appointment in Marylebone at 12:30 pm. Police officers were assisting ticket inspectors on a bus in Croydon at the time.

Upon disembarking the bus with her son around 11 am, she was asked by a bus inspector to provide proof of fare payment.

Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram, presiding at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, determined that it was unnecessary for Lathwood to “grab the woman’s arm, arrest her, and handcuff her.” He stated, "There were no reasonable grounds to suggest that arrest was necessary. The officer made an error of judgment and overreacted. I find you guilty of assault."

Lathwood, affiliated with the Metropolitan Police’s Road Traffic Policing Command, is scheduled for sentencing at the same court on June 14.