A British police force backed down after they arrested an autistic girl over saying that a female officer looked like her “lesbian nana”.
West Yorkshire Police has announced that it will take “no further action” against a 16-year-old girl with autism in Leeds, who was arrested on suspicion of having committed a “homophobic public order offence” in a home raid in the early hours of Monday for comparing an officer to her lesbian grandmother.
The police force faced fierce backlash on social media as footage was posted on TikTok by the girl’s mother, showing officers dragging the girl from their home.
An autistic girl was dragged out of her home by multiple police officers
Her crime? Telling a cop that she looks like a lesbian nana.
West Yorkshire police just released a public statement confirming this arrest.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 10, 2023
In her post, which has since been deleted, the mother wrote according to The Telegraph: “This is what police do when dealing with autistic children. My daughter told me the police officer looked like her nana, who is a lesbian.
“The officer took it the wrong way and said it was a homophobic comment [it wasn’t]. The officer then entered my home. My daughter was having panic attacks from being touched by them and they still continued to manhandle her.”
Following the outcry, the police force announced on Friday that it has “now reviewed the evidence and made the decision to take no further action.”
“This concludes the criminal investigation and immediately releases the girl from her bail. Her family has been updated.
“West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate is continuing to carry out a review of the circumstances after receiving a complaint in relation to the incident.”
Please see our update in relation to the arrest of a girl in Leeds on Monday.https://t.co/WWN4ZzZb2a pic.twitter.com/1RhqCEEZPB
— West Yorkshire Police (@WestYorksPolice) August 11, 2023
A former police officer turned founder of the Fair Cop free speech campaigner, Harry Miller argued that the arrest itself was illegal, claiming that the girl could not have committed a “public order offence” in her private dwelling and therefore the arrest was “unlawful”.
Miller, who won a major legal victory against police over so-called “non-crime hate incidents”, went on to call for the “sacking” of all the police officers involved in the arrest as well as the chief constable.
“This was a home invasion by an organised crime gang called West Yorkshire Police,” he told GB News, adding: “This was an armed kidnapping of a 16-year-old autistic girl because she happened to say [something] the West Yorkshire Police do not like.”
Miller went on to note that the very same police force had just days prior joined an LGBT+ Pride parade in West Yorkshire, demonstrating that the force is politically biased.
Had a great day supporting leeds pride. Some people have asked why comments have been turned off on our earlier posts. Some of the responses demonstrate exactly why #pride is so important & why we will continue to work with & support our lgbtq+ communities. #leedspride pic.twitter.com/J6TSe21xX8
— West Yorkshire Police LGBTQ 🌈🏳️⚧️ (@WYP_LGBTQ) August 6, 2023
Assistant Chief Constable Oz Khan said: “We recognise the significant level of public concern that this incident has generated, and we have moved swiftly to fully review the evidence in the criminal investigation which has led to the decision to take no further action.
“Without pre-empting the outcome of the ongoing review of the circumstances by our Professional Standards Directorate, we would like to reassure people that we will take on board any lessons to be learned from this incident.
“We do appreciate the understandable sensitivities around incidents involving young people and neurodiversity and we are genuinely committed to developing how we respond to these often very challenging situations.”