West Yorkshire police have said that a 16-year-old girl arrested after being accused of making a homophobic remark to a police officer will face no charges.
Controversy erupted when the teenager, who has autism, was detained by seven police officers outside her home in Leeds, on 7 August.
Police have said they will “take on board any lessons to be learned” after a TikTok video of the arrest led to backlash.
The fiasco unfolded when the girl “made a comment in her own house” which led to Yorkshire police deciding to arrest her for “homophobic remarks” – according to the girl’s mother, who posted about the incident on social media.
“[They were] helping her home safely they said, and she wasn’t under arrest, until the woman officer changed her mind after hearing the word “lesbian”, the girl’s upset mother claimed in a post under a tiktok video of the incident.
A male police officer is heard saying that “homophobic remarks” were made at his colleague. In the video, the woman told the police, “her nana is a lesbian, she is married to a lesbian” and “she didn’t aim it at the police officer.”
The teen’s mother then says about her daughter – ‘she said “I think she is a lesbian like Nana”.
The Daily Mail later reported that the girl had said “you look like my lesbian Nana”. As the girl cowers in a cupboard looking terrified, a policewoman says, “she’s getting arrested” to which her mother responds, “she’s autistic.” The policewoman can be heard responding, “I don’t care.”
In the video, the teenager was filmed screaming and crying as three male police officers attempt to remove her from the cupboard under the stairs.
Posting about the incident, her mother blasted the incident her daughter received, claiming that the officer had taken the girl’s comment in “the wrong way”:
“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.”
In a statement, Yorkshire Police said:
“In relation to an incident in Leeds on Monday, where a 16-year-old girl was arrested on suspicion of a homophobic public order offence, West Yorkshire Police 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 added that its Professional Standards Directorate is “continuing to carry out a review of the circumstances after receiving a complaint in relation to the incident.”
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