A new report reveals that racism was a likely “influencing factor” in the strip search of a 15-year-old Black girl at her London school in Dec. 2020, The Guardian reports.

According to the report conducted by a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, the school’s staff called the police because they were “concerned” that the young woman, referred to in the report as “Child Q,” had drugs with her.

They searched Child Q “to the extent that was permissible.” After that, Sky News reports that two female police officers strip searched Child Q in the school’s medical room while two teachers waited outside. According to The Guardian, the officers made her “bend over, spread her legs and use her hands to spread her buttocks while coughing.”

The reports states that “it is unlikely that the school was informed by the attending police officers of the intention to strip search Child Q.” However, the document also states that the reason why police conducted the search was based off of reports provided by the school.

According to reports, Child Q had smelled of cannabis while on school property, and someone Child Q knew was expelled for drugs.

According to The Guardian, there wasn’t an “appropriate adult” present during the incident and Child Q was menstruating at the time of the incident.

A senior local authority figure described the search as “humiliating” and “utterly shocking,” according to The Guardian. In the report, Child Q’s family shared that “she is now self-harming and requires therapy. She is traumatised and is now a shell of the bubbly child she was before this incident.”

The report states that a review and reference panel found that “racism was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search.” It went on to explain that the incident occurred six months after George Floyd’s death, which illuminated the reality of being Black around the world.

Ultimately, the panel “held a firm view” that the incident was racially motivated, and if Child Q were of a different race, “then her experiences are unlikely to have been the same.”

Dan Rutland, detective superintendent of the Metropolitan Police’s Central East Command, said, “We recognize that the findings of the safeguarding review reflect this incident should never have happened.”

He continued, saying, “It is truly regrettable and on behalf of the Met Police I would like to apologize to the child concerned, her family and the wider community.”

Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, echoed similar sentiments. Khan said the inappropriate strip search was “shocking and deeply disturbing.”

“I am extremely concerned by the findings of this report and no child should ever have to face a situation like this,” he said, according to Sky News.