and thought he was a suicide bomber off on a murderous spree with explosives.
The police were concerned enough not only to check him out, but to send an armed officer along in case they had to shoot a suicide bomber.
When his vest was found to be filled with weights and not explosives, they suggested the young man wear a jacket over his vest in the future.
Goudarz Karimi, 25, had to carefully remove the 30-kilogram vest so armed officers could checked it out last Monday near the university.
Superintendent Amanda Pearson of the Thames Valley Police said the officers responded to a call from a member of the public who was concerned about a man wearing what the citizen thought was an explosive vest.
Karimi told the Oxford Mail he feared his ethnic origin sparked the concerns. “I’m 100 percent 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,’’ he said.
Karimi is studying for a PhD in physiology, anatomy and genetics at Oxford University. He said, “I felt a bit like my rights were violated. The police told me to take my vest off and to go home and I don’t see why I should.’’
Superintendent 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.
“While I appreciate that in this case being stopped and checked by the officers may have been unsettling to the gentlemen concerned, the officers were responding to a call from a member of the public who had a genuine concern and police are duty-bound to investigate any calls of this nature to ensure public safety.’’
She said, “Officers attended and spoke to the man at 3.20 p.m., who explained he was wearing a weight vest for personal training reasons. The vest was checked and officers confirmed this was the case and there was no need for public alarm.
She added, “In order to stop any further calls from members of the public, the gentleman was asked to put his coat on, which he agreed to do. There was no legal requirement for the gentleman to put on his jacket.’’
