Bodycam footage has been released showing the moment a handcuffed Kendal motorist stole a police patrol vehicle from under the noses of British Transport Police officers.
Two constables had just handed a missing girl over to her parents on a bridge over the M6 at junction 36 at around 12-45am on November 19 last year, when they watched a BMW crash into a roundabout barrier, flip and roll several times close by.
As the vehicle stopped, intoxicated Keiran James George, 33, walked from the wreckage unharmed.
George, a powerfully-built personal trainer, fought and violently resisted as attempts were made to detain him.
He was eventually handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol vehicle. But body-worn video camera captured the moment George then drove off in the police car — with lights and sirens activated — having climbed into the front seat.
Officers hitched a lift in the car of a married couple who had stopped to offer help, and saw George hit more 90mph as he drove on to the M6, to the next junction and then back again before abandoning the stolen vehicle.
He was detained and brought before Carlisle Crown Court, where a defence barrister told how he had made a desperate search for his dog after it, too, leapt uninjured from the BMW wreckage and ran away.
George, of Highgate, Kendal, was jailed for 14 months and handed a 31-month driving ban after he admitted aggravated vehicle taking, escape, driving while disqualified and assaulting one officer by throwing him to the ground.
Sarah Magill, mitigating, said he had been drinking at a wedding the previous day and recalled little of a police incident which had been “very shocking for him”.
“Yes, of course there are humorous parts to this case,” she said. “When he tells people they laugh. But he came very close to losing his life on that night.”
“It should never have been possible for him to drive off in a police car. But he should not have done it.”
Recorder Julian Shaw called the incident “extraordinary” and recommended that the Good Samaritan couple should receive awards from Cumbria’s High Sheriff for their public spirited assistance.
As footage of the theft was released today, a BTP spokesman said: “Our officers took immediate action to stop the vehicle to safeguard the public.
“This was then when Keiran George carried out a sustained assault on one of our officers, resisting arrest. In the struggle this caused the officer to lose some of his personal protective equipment.
“Eventually, after a struggle, George was arrested and handcuffed. He was placed in the back of the police vehicle whilst the officer searched for his protective equipment.
Whilst handcuffed, George managed to get into the front seat and drive off in the police vehicle. With the support of Cumbria Police the vehicle was found nearby and George was arrested.”
Supt David Rams, in charge of operational policing for British Transport Police for Cumbria, said: “This was a sustained unacceptable assault on one of our officers who was doing his job to protect the public from a dangerous driver.
“Our officers should not be assaulted protecting the public and this incident found the officer in a difficult situation. We reviewed the incident with the officer involved to look for opportunities to learn and share wider organisational learning.
“I would like to thank Cumbria police for their investigation and support in arresting Keiran George”.
