Oxford University Student Mistaken for Suicide Bomber by Jogging With Weighted Vest
An Iranian Oxford University PhD student was mistaken for a suicide bomber as he jogged around the streets wearing a weighted vest. The student was ordered to stop running and put his hands in the air as armed officers approached him to search his vest.
However, student Goudarz Karimi was only wearing a training vest carrying 30kg of weights, which is a popular accessory whilst exercising.
“They told me "Stop! Stop! Put your hands in the air. Drop everything you have," said Karimi. “The police removed my weight vest and examined it. They started asking questions: "What are you doing?"
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“They said they had a report of someone walking in a bomb suit. There were police cars and the street was blocked.”
He immediately removed the vest so police could examine it for explosives. Afterwards, he was advised to take the vest off in case the police get more calls from the public.
The student commented: “They told me I'd have to take my vest off, I didn't want to provoke anything else and that's why I put my jacket over it,” according to The Daily Mail.
He continued: “I am 100 per cent sure that if I was blond with Caucasian skin type, nobody would have noticed and said anything about it.
“But I'm of dark skin complexion and from Iran and I'm sure that's related to it.”
However Thames Valley Police superintendent Amanda Pearson said: “The officers have to weigh up a number of factors to determine if a stop and search is proportionate, and justified, and the decision to stop and search would not be made on ethnicity alone and wasn't in this case.”
