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Tiemoue Bakayoko (Image source- Twitter)
Tiemoue Bakayoko, a former Chelsea midfielder on loan at AC Milan, was dragged out of his car by Italian police and searched at gunpoint in Milan's Porta Garibaldi district on July 3. A video of the same has gone viral over the internet.
The 27-year-old French international was reportedly stopped and searched by Milan police while driving through the city with a friend. The player was held at gunpoint because he matched the suspect's description from the previous hours' gunfire in the vicinity. However, as the Italian police realised the player was not the suspect, the search was immediately stopped.
Italian reporter Tancredi Palmeri posted the video on his official Twitter handle. "Shocking footage of Milan’s Bakayoko in Milan’s downtown held at gunpoint by police cause taken for someone else. Check when one of cop goes telling to the colleague searching him that it’s not the suspect but a Milan player, and the cop saying 'WHO?!?'," he wrote,
Watch the video here
Shocking footage of Milan’s Bakayoko in Milan’s downtown held at gunpoint by police cause taken for someone else.
Check when one of cop goes telling to the colleague searching him that it’s not the suspect but a Milan player, and the cop saying “WHO?!?”
pic.twitter.com/B0PTYiXnc5— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) July 18, 2022
The reporter then also tweeted the police's statement that said Bakayoko matched the description of the suspect involved in the gun shooting. "The search happened on July 3, was due to gun shooting that happened in the area in previous hours, and the two suspected were two men on a suv fitting the description, one of the two was black and with green shirt. That’s why the gunpoint," read the tweet.
The event sparked outrage, with accusations of racism against the Italian police department. However, according to Goal.com, the saga involving Bakayoko was a case of mistaken identification. According to an AC Milan spokesperson, the police "apologised to him" as soon as they learned of Bakayoko's identity.
"The player was stopped but as soon as the police verified that he had nothing to do with what happened, they apologised and let him go," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
In the meantime, Bakayoko joined Chelsea from Monaco in 2017 for a fee of £40 million. The midfielder spent the 2017-18 season with the English club, making 43 appearances before loan stints at AC Milan, Monaco, and Napoli.