Detectives are hunting the driver of a car which rammed a police officer leaving with a serious injury.
It happened at just after 8:50pm last night (Thursday, November 29th) when the officer approached a suspected stolen BMW 2 series car to speak to the driver as it was stationary at some traffic lights on East Gate in Accrington.
The car reversed, hitting a police car and the officer. He has suffered a suspected ankle injury and was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital to be treated. He remains in hospital undergoing surgery.
A 38yr old man arrested a short time after the offence has now been released without charge. A 24yr old man from Accrington has been arrested on suspicion of a burglary offence relating to the original theft of the car and remains in custody. Another 24yr old man from Burnley has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods relating to the stolen vehicle.
The driver of the car is described as a white man aged in his mid-twenties, wearing a dark coloured hoody and a baseball cap with a white emblem on the front. He was seen to run from the crashed stolen vehicle up Avenue Parade away from Eastgate.
Detective Inspector Tim McDermott said: “This is being treated as a deliberate attack on a police officer trying to detain the driver of a stolen vehicle. The car was taken from a burglary at an address in Accrington in the early hours of the 29th and the offender has shown total disregard for the life of the officer and the safety of the public. The driver remains at large and we need to find him quickly before anyone else is injured. If you know anything about this incident please call us on 101 or independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
“Our thoughts remain with our injured colleague and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
