When an officer smashed in the window of Ryan Colaço’s car, after he was wrongly accused of concealing drugs, they did not know he was driving home from a TV interview in which he told of institutional racism in the police after being stopped and searched the week before. In the original incident, in Northumberland Park, north London, at 11am on 23 May, Colaço said he was stopped after being “aggressively tailgated” by the Metropolitan police, with officers then running to his car and banging on his window. They later said they had been able to smell cannabis from his car. As he queried why he was being stopped, Colaço, 30, was forced into handcuffs, video footage shows. He agreed to leave his car and stood with officers who searched him, while others combed through his BMW and found nothing. “I’ve never in my life ever handled or taken any drug,” he said. “I felt like they were just trying to incriminate me. After the way I’ve been treated over the years, I don’t trust them. They stop you and then find a reason to justify their stop.” Colaço, whose job involves helping to find locations for films, said he had been searched about 20 times, but did not have a criminal record. He faces the possibility of a court hearing for obstructing a drugs search after he was released under investigation after his arrest as a result of the second incident. On 29 May, driving home from an interview with Channel 4 after his video of the first incident gained attention on social media, he was stopped again at about 4.30pm, near Cannon Street station in central London. As he questioned why City of London police officers wanted to search him, after they had alleged he was “dashing stuff up in his waistband”, footage shows his window was smashed in. “There were two officers at first – within minutes I was surrounded,” he said. “It was a very intimidating situation. Clearly nothing was dashed in my waistband. My safety was not taken into consideration when they broke that window. I told him I would come out, but just didn’t want to be put in handcuffs.” Officers hauled him from his car and forced him to the ground, hitting his head against the ground before he was thrown face-first against a wall, Colaço said, causing him severe headaches. He was handcuffed, drug-tested, taken to the station and strip-searched before spending hours in a cell before being released about 12 hours later, with nothing having been found. He had to walk a mile at about 5am to retrieve his car, which had been impounded. During the walk, he was approached by officers in a vehicle who pulled over to ask why he was out and about. Colaço then had to wait till 9.30am to be given his car. “When the officer drove my car out, I saw there was still glass everywhere,” he said. “I had my head in my hands. They said they won’t clean the glass or pay for the window and my car was trashed too. The fact this all happened as I was coming back from an interview about getting stopped: you couldn’t make it up.” He eventually drove home and visited Queens hospital in Romford the next day before making complaints to both forces and the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct. He said he felt like he was not treated with humanity and that he has since experienced severe paranoia while driving. “As far as I’m concerned, criminal damage and assault happened to me on that day,” he said. “It was a very traumatic experience and I think about it every single day.” An IOPC spokesperson said: “We are independently investigating an incident following a voluntary referral received on 18 June 2020 from the Met where a man was stopped and searched in his car by MPS officers on 23 May 2020. “This referral is linked to one we received on 22 June 2020 from City of London police following an incident on 29 May 2020 during which police officers stopped and searched the same man in his car. The referral has been returned to City of London police to investigate.” Treena Fleming, a Met commander, said: “We expect to be highly scrutinised and if anybody is concerned about a stop-and-search then I want them to come forward and report it to us. I am listening to, and engaging with, members of the community, particularly our young people, to understand the impact that stop-and-search has, so I can help ensure our tactics are respectfully and appropriately used.” A spokesperson for City of London police said: “On Friday 29 May 2020, at approximately 4.30pm on Cannon Street in the City of London, a man, 30, was arrested for obstructing/resisting a constable in the execution of their duty, after he failed to comply with directions from officers regarding a drugs search. He has since been released under investigation.”