Rising tide of cars being used as weapons against police officers

The crash left him with a head injury, internal bleeding and his spine became detached from his pelvis, which was also shattered during the incident.

“I think being knocked out for that few seconds where it actually drove over me has probably benefited me in a strange way because that’s probably the bit you don’t want to remember," says the 43-year-old, who has 19 years service with the force.

WATCH police video of the incident here:

Warning: Contains distressing footage

Mubashar Hussain, 29, who was driving a stolen Range Rover when he was detained by Pc Phillips, was sentenced to 12 years in prison when he appeared before Birmingham Crown Court in October last year.

But for Pc Phillips, there is still a long road ahead. At the moment he is working half days in the West Midlands Police control room, awaiting further scans to see how his spine, pelvis and hand injuries have healed.

While this was a particularly unpleasant incident, it is just the tip of the iceberg says Sgt Tim Rogers, deputy secretary of the Police Federation in the West Midlands. He says officers being injured by drivers trying to escape justice has become an almost daily occurrence, and has written to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps asking for more police powers.

"It is something we are seeing, on average, about four times a week," says Sgt Rogers, an officer for 25 years. "But that is just the cases we are aware of. If the officer isn't injured, we don't tend to hear about it, so there will be many more near-misses that go unreported."

The most high-profile recent case is that of Pc Andrew Harper, a newly-wed 28-year-old officer with the Thames Valley force, who was killed when he was dragged along the road after becoming entangled in a cable towing a stolen quad bike. Driver Henry Long, 18 at the time of the incident in Berkshire last year, is now serving 16 years in prison after admitting manslaughter. His accomplices, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, both 17, were jailed for 13 years.

See also:

• Pc Andrew Harper’s killers to have sentences reviewed by Court of Appeal

Closer to home, only last week an officer was injured after he was dragged 50ft along the road after attempting to stop a car in inner-city Birmingham, and last month another officer was injured when a Mercedes driver reversed into him in Wolverhampton.

Sgt Rogers is calling for the Road Traffic Act 1988 to be amended so that officers have legal powers to order drivers to turn their engine off when stopped, and to demand all occupants get out of a car.

He says the law as it stands leaves drivers vulnerable because of a loophole in the law which deems them to have complied providing they stop when asked to by an officer.

"They can sit in the car, just lower the window by a couple of inches, and you ask them to get out, they say 'no, officer'," he says.

"Very often they are playing for time after being stopped for a relatively minor offence, and when they react like this it means they often have something to hide."

Sgt Rogers accepts that these new powers will not cut much ice with hardened criminals intent on a quick getaway, but says having clear laws which require drivers to co-operate.

He says the law could be changed by minor amendments to the Road Traffic Act, which would not involve a significant curtailment of existing civil liberties.

Sgt Rogers says officers are extremely vulnerable when they get out of patrol cars to talk to drivers.

"The driver can make off and use the vehicle as a weapon, as all too often is the case," he says.

"This unwarranted risk to police officers could be minimised by creating an obligation on those in the stopped vehicle to get out when asked by an officer to do so."

Backing his call for a change in the law is an un-named police officer who says he was dragged along the road by a suspected drink driver who had already refused to produce his driving licence or get out of his car when asked to take a breath-test.

"As I attempted to remove him from the vehicle, he drove off, dragging me a short distance as I clung to the window,” says the officer.

Refused

“In short car pulled over, driver refused to open window or get out. He then drove off with an officer standing by the driver’s door causing him to have to take avoiding action in order not to be run over."

After a chase the driver was found to have had 100 wraps of a class-A drug in his underpants.

Another officer was hit by a car door mirror as he attempted to detain a driver, who then drove off at high speed through crowded streets, ignoring red lights.

The officer reports being left with agonising wrist pain as a result of the incident, and having to go to a local minor injuries unit the following day."

Another officer talks about dealing with a man who had committed a series of traffic offences and also had no insurance for his vehicle.

"He pulled over compliantly but was instantly very aggressive and wound his window down marginally to speak with me," the officer says.

"I asked him to come and take a seat in my police car, however, he refused. He was getting more and more aggressive and wound his window down more purely so he could see what I was doing at the side of his vehicle. It became apparent to me that there was something more to this and it was also very clear that the chances of him driving off were extremely high.

Trapping

“As a result I reached in to take his keys from the ignition to prevent this. I was single-crewed. He instantly took hold of my wrist and started to wind the window back up trapping my arm. Fortunately, I managed to remove his keys and pull my arm away before he caused significant damage, though I suffered pain.

"He hen wound his window back up and refused to get out of his vehicle which resulted in me having to request few further officers to try to remove him from the car, as I was going to seize it and needed to issue him with a ticket."

This officer says a law giving police the power to order occupants out of their vehicle could have been useful in defusing this situation.

Another officer recalls stopping a vehicle on a petrol station forecourt, after becoming aware of a strong smell of cannabis.

"The driver put his window down slightly and I was unable to either grab the keys or do anything tactical to prevent him from driving off," says the officer.

“The vehicle then drove off as I was about to smash the window to conduct the search. The vehicle drove dangerously and recklessly off the forecourt showing no regard to other road users and people potentially walking the street. He could have killed someone."