An athlete who was stopped and handcuffed by police alongside her partner and baby son has said the experience left her feeling like “being black is a crime”, as politicians questioned the officers’ actions. Bianca Williams and her partner, Ricardo dos Santos, who are both trained by the former Olympic champion Linford Christie, were stopped while driving back to their home in Maida Vale, west London, on Saturday. Officers’ handling of the incident came under scrutiny after Christie accused the Metropolian police of institutional racism and posted footage of the couple being forced out of the car. In the video, Williams, who is obviously distressed, says repeatedly: “My son is in the car.” On Monday the Labour leader Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, said he could not see the justification for the use of handcuffs. Williams, 26, who is the fifth fastest British woman in history over 200m, said she felt obliged to speak out and see what legal recourse there was, given her high profile. “Somebody’s got to take it further,” she told the Guardian. “If it’s not going to be me then who else is it going to be? This happens to a lot of black males in the UK and not everyone [is] in a position where they can make a stand and have a voice. “I thought: I have to speak about it, let people out there know that it happens to people who are representing the country. It could happen to anyone, it could happen to my brother, it could happen to my son when he’s older. “I’m going to have to teach him from when he’s able to go to school on his own, or to go out with his friends. You have to be careful because being black is a crime.” The Met has said that the stop, at about 1.25pm on Saturday, which was made by Territorial Support Group officers patrolling the area due to an increase in violence involving weapons, raised “no misconduct issues”. It said the vehicle had blacked-out windows, was “driving suspiciously”, including being on the wrong side of the road, and sped off before voluntarily stopping. The statement said that after nothing was found on the occupants’ person or in the vehicle, no arrests were made and the pair were released. Williams said the Met’s statement had left her confused as she said the car had not been on the wrong side of the road, which was wide enough only for a single car, and while the rear windows were tinted, they had come like that from Mercedes and were not illegal. She said Dos Santos, 25, the Portuguese 400m record holder, had been stopped by police numerous times before. “He’ll just be like: ‘It’s a natural thing, it happens all the time’,” said Williams. “And for him to be like that, it’s really sad. Even when we were both handcuffed outside, he said: ‘Welcome to my world,’ and that hurt. It shouldn’t have to be like that.” Williams said her initial concern during the incident was for her partner, who was driving, but it then switched to their three-month-old son, Zuri-Li. “My heart just sank and I just wanted to try and help him [Dos Santos], and then when they started to grab me I thought: my god I haven’t done anything wrong, but my son’s in the car, I can’t come, my baby is in the car.” Starmer said he did not believe the officers involved had handled the situation well, given the baby’s presence. “The use of handcuffs is always controversial and I couldn’t actually see what the justification for that was,” he told LBC. “It will be for the police to justify their actions. I don’t know what led to the stop in the first place. But what I do know is that if I was a senior officer looking at that footage, I would feel uncomfortable about the way that it was dealt with.” The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he had raised the case with the Met. “I take any allegation of racial profiling extremely seriously and have raised this issue with the Met police,” he said. “It is absolutely vital that our police service retains the trust and confidence of the communities it serves so that every Londoner, regardless of background or postcode can feel safe, protected and served.” Williams said that despite making headlines for the incident, she would not let it define her. “I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” she said. “I’m still Bianca Williams and I’m still going to compete for GB and hopefully make the Olympic team next year, so I’m still going to continue doing what I’m doing. And I just hope that more people don’t experience what I’ve experienced, because it’s horrible and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.” On Monday evening, the Met released an updated statement saying the couple were both handcuffed “due to the officers’ views, as to the manner in which the vehicle was being driven, that the vehicle was attempting to evade police, and due to the driver refusing to leave his vehicle”. The commander for central west, Helen Harper, said the Directorate of Professional Standards had revisited the officers’ body-worn video and social media footage and remained satisfied that there were no misconduct issues. She asked the couple to contact her to discuss what had happened.