Policeman in serious condition after being run over by suspected car thief

A police officer is in hospital with serious injuries after being run over by a suspected car thief.

West Midlands Police said the officer is being treated for head and pelvic injuries following the incident in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.

The force said a 29-year-old man, from Hall Green, had been arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer.

The force said that as the officer attempted to arrest the suspect at about 4.45pm, he was violently assaulted and punched to the ground.

He was then run over by the suspect as he got behind the wheel of the officer’s marked patrol car.

West Midlands Police said it is understood the man drove the vehicle for around a mile into Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, where he abandoned it and tried to steal another car.

Back-up officers, including armed police, cornered the suspect, who was Tasered and arrested.

Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Boycott said: “This is a shocking attack in which a member of our police family has been seriously hurt while trying to detain a crime suspect.

“I’m heading to the hospital now to get an update on his condition and offer whatever support I can to him and his family.

“Attacks on our officers and staff won’t be tolerated and we will always seek the toughest possible criminal justice outcome for offenders.”

In an update on Twitter posted shortly before 9pm West Midlands Police said the officer was undergoing surgery on Saturday evening.

Eyewitness Sohail Razaque said he was driving up to the junction of Ladypool Road when a police car came past him on sirens and collided with another vehicle up ahead.

Mr Razaque, a manager at Birmingham-based BMV Solicitors, said: “There was one car ahead of me and we pulled over to let police come past, and there were lots of sirens and a police helicopter.

“The police car went past, got into the junction and then hit another car and skidded, and it turned round and went back a few dozen metres.

“There was some confusion up ahead then, and I stayed in the car.

“But while we were stopped I saw a man in a white shirt and red trousers, and he was trying to get into what looked like a white Nissan car.

“He half got in it, then got back out again and then he tried to get through some metal shutters that looked like it was a shop at the roadside.

“But he didn’t and continued further up on a junction of Ladypool Road.”

Mr Razaque, 48, from Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, added: “The officers there were on their radios and saying ‘its’ the guy in the coloured trousers’ and they saw him trying to get in the car.

“It all happened pretty quickly. There were about 40 police, a lot of them armed , some had Tasers, some had guns.

“He was sort of almost walking through the crowds, with the officers following – and that’s where they Tasered him and took him down.

“There was about four or five officers on top of him and then about five minutes later, they had him up, and walked him past me and put him in a police car.”

The incident comes just days after Metropolitan Police officer Stuart Outten was left with head and hand injuries after challenging a motor offences suspect allegedly armed with a machete in east London.

Muhammad Rodwan, 56, has been charged with the attempted murder of Pc Outten, 28, and possession of an offensive weapon following the incident in Leyton just after midnight on Thursday.