11 UK police officers investigated for alleged racism over handling of car crash that killed PIO schoolgirl

LONDON: The police watchdog is investigating 11 Met Police officers over their handling of a car crash that killed an Indian-origin and a Chinese-origin schoolgirl and whether race influenced police conduct.

British Indian Nuria Sajjad, and Selena Lau, both eight, died after Claire Freemantle crashed a Land Rover into an end-of-term tea party on the lawn of their private school in Wimbledon in July 2023. More than a dozen people were injured. Freeman was arrested but not charged as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said she had suffered an undiagnosed epileptic seizure.

The families maintain the initial investigation was flawed.

“The complaints relate to concerns about the standard of the investigation, including its management and direction, the conduct of the investigation team, and their engagement with the victims. We are also investigating allegations that Met officers provided false and misleading information to those affected and whether the officers’ treatment of those affected was influenced by their race,” Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) director Amanda Rowe said.

Four serving officers, a commander, detective chief inspector, detective sergeant and detective constable, and a former detective inspector, are being investigated for gross misconduct. Two detective constables are being investigated at misconduct level.

Some witnesses were not initially interviewed, including the head teacher who comforted Nuria as she lay injured.

Nuria’s mother, Smera Chohan, herself injured in the incident, told the BBC she wanted to know why it had not merited a “competent and thorough investigation”. “I really want to understand why I have been treated so cruelly, unfairly, and in an inhumane way. The system is so broken. It feels like a begging bowl.”

Nuria’s parents spent her 11th birthday last month at her grave. Her father Sajjad Butt said: “I could not even tell her why she is there. I do not know right now why my daughter died. I am ashamed. My one job as a parent was to protect my child. The CPS has left us in the dark.”

A CPS spokesperson said the Met police had submitted a file in March following a reinvestigation. “We have concluded that there are some further factors we must consider before a decision on charge can be reached,” the CPS said.