Stuart Lawrence, 35, is preparing to sue Scotland Yard for discrimination claiming he is pulled over without justification 'all the time'...
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My Thoughts: Racism has never exhibited the humane nature of a people/society... It's man's indifference to the Wisdom of God...Why in heavens name would a certain race feel superior to another?
Stephen Lawrence's brother last night claimed police have stopped him 25 times simply because of the colour of his skin.
Stuart Lawrence says he is the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment by Scotland Yard officers.
And his lawyers yesterday lodged a damaging race discrimination complaint against the Metropolitan Police Service.
They say the 35-year-old teacher has been repeatedly pulled over in his car for 'no apparent reason and without any justification'.
His patience snapped after an incident on November 16 near the home he shares with his fiancée and two-year-old son in Peckham, south London.
Mr Lawrence, whose brother was killed by a racist gang, was in his VW Scirocco when two officers stopped him.
After asking why he had been pulled over, he says one of the officers replied that he had been 'naturally suspicious' of him.
Mr Lawrence, whose plans to sue the Met were revealed by the Mail on Saturday, said: 'I am being targeted because of the colour of my skin, I don't think it's because I am Stephen's brother.
'Whenever I have been stopped, I have never subsequently been charged with anything, and nothing has ever been found to be wrong with my car.
'I have never, ever, done anything wrong. I have never been in trouble with the law. I have paid my road tax and my insurance, and always tried to keep my cars in a roadworthy state.
'Of the 25 or so occasions in which I have been stopped, only two have been at police checkpoints – where they are verifying people's tax and insurance. The rest have been random stops.'
In a statement, he added: 'There can be no other reason, apart from racism, for me being stopped so often.
Family: Stuart (right) pictured at home with his murdered elder brother Stephen...
'If I had no road tax, no insurance, or if I was driving erratically, I would understand being pulled over. But on no occasions was that the case.'
A letter of complaint was sent to Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan-Howe yesterday afternoon, outlining details of Mr Lawrence's ordeal and the names of the officers involved in the latest incident.
In it, his lawyers warn of further legal proceedings and state that over 'many years' he has been stopped between 20 and 25 times.
Because of the extraordinary sensitivity of the case, there is speculation that the Independent Police Complaints Commission will be asked to supervise an inquiry into the allegations.
The legal move will be of particular concern to Home Secretary Theresa May, who last month paid tribute to the campaigning work of Stuart and Stephen's mother Doreen.
Murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence's mother Doreen Lawrence OBE (left) and her son Stuart (right) pictured at a memorial held in his honour in April last year...
Tireless: Doreen Lawrence has written to politicians but says her letters have been ignored...
In 1999, the Met was accused of being 'institutionally racist' by the judicial inquiry into her son's murder six years earlier.
The 18-year-old A-level student was killed by a group of white youths as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London.
Two of that gang, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were jailed for life last January for Stephen's murder. Mr Lawrence said last night: 'I feel angry and frustrated because I sat through the trial of Dobson and Norris, and saw some of the mistakes made by police in 1993 and the years that followed.
'Now it appears not much progress has been made in how they deal with black people. I just want police to do their jobs properly. I don't want them to waste time on people like me. Their time could be better spent elsewhere, rather than pulling me over.
Home Secretary Theresa May (left) has paid tribute to the campaigning work of Doreen Lawrence. Mr Lawrence sent a letter of complaint to Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe (right) outlining his concerns...
A police CCTV surveillance van at the site of the Stephen Lawrence memorial stone in Well Hall Road, Eltham, south-east London...
'They could be out solving crimes. A lot of recommendations were made by the Macpherson Inquiry but it seems that it hasn't made much difference.
'I would like to know when things are going to change, when is there going to be a society where you are not pulled over because you are a black guy or a black person driving a particular car. The decision to stop someone in their car should be based on a sound reason, rather than the colour of your skin.
'I have met some really good police officers who work hard to protect the community.
'But it only takes a small handful of people with the wrong type of attitude to make it feel like things have not changed since the Macpherson Inquiry.'
He said that as he grew up in south London, being regularly stopped by police was something he 'reluctantly accepted'. 'But as I am getting older now, the circumstances in which I am stopped are more ludicrous and more over the top,' he added.
'I saw the mistakes made by police in 1993 and the years that followed. Not much progress has been made in how they deal with black people.'
Stuart Lawrence
'In recent years, I have been stopped during my lunch-break at work. The police were checking tax discs. I have also been stopped on my first day back to work after the summer holidays, which meant I was late for the first briefing meeting for work.
'On this occasion, I was pulled over randomly just before I got to the traffic lights.
'I explained this to the officer, that I was on my way to work, but he insisted on going through the process of checking who I was, and checking my car was taxed, insured and in good working order.
'I have reservations now about the type of car I can drive because I don't want to increase the amount of times I am stopped.'
Mr Lawrence's solicitor Imran Khan said: 'Stop and search is often used as a litmus test for how the police treat those from minority ethnic communities.
'Stuart's experience shows that rather than passing this litmus test, the Metropolitan Police have remained consistently bad.
'Stuart has suffered immeasurably over the last 20 years. First with the murder of his brother in 1993, then the failures of the police in their investigation into the murder and to cap it all being unfairly stopped because of his skin colour.
'Previously Stuart has not complained or otherwise drawn attention to what has happened to him, but now, when the Metropolitan police seemingly trumpet how things have changed for the better, he has felt the need to take action. He has now instructed me to use the full force of the law.'
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment last night.
Culled from The Daily Mail UK.
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