Black fireman accuses Met of racist abuse

At least 10 cases of alleged racism by the Met Police have been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in three weeks.

In the latest, a fireman has accused six officers of verbally abusing him, assaulting him and shooting him with a taser. Edric Kennedy-Macfoy, 28, from north London, said he was driving through Harrow dressed in a pin-striped suit when he saw a youth lob a rock at a police van, The Guardian reported.

He approached officers to tell them what the suspect looked like when he was dragged from his car and attacked, he said.

In February he was cleared at Brent Magistrates' Court of obstructing police. Scotland Yard said last night: "Such allegations are taken extremely seriously and the investigation will explore all the circumstances and evidence."

He was reported as saying that he might not have pursued the case had he received an apology and explanation. "People make mistakes; you've got good cops and bad cops," he said. "I still would have been pissed off, but I would have accepted their apology and their acknowledgement that they had messed up."