Wolverhampton men arrested for attempted murder of policemen as shop raid foiled
Horrified witnesses today told how 'carnage' erupted on a quiet back street as a car was reversed into a policeman and then drove into three more officers as a suspected robbery plot went wrong.
The cornered driver also smashed through a line of conifers, hit a car parked on a driveway and ended up with his vehicle up against a house, perched on top of a low retaining wall with the back wheel still spinning in the air.
Officers, including the one who had been trapped between the white Audi car and a police van, used their truncheons to try to break a window to reach the suspect in Kidderminster.
And when they finally managed to get him out of the car, onlookers saw he was covered in blood as police handcuffed him on the ground.
Three men from Wolverhampton in their 20s have been arrested for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
One of them is now in hospital with a head injury and chest pain, while two others are being questioned by police.
Officers were called after a member of the public reported seeing two men acting suspiciously in an alleyway from Stoney Lane to Stourbridge Road, by Tesco Express.
"It was absolute carnage," said Stephanie Lambert, aged 25, who watched from the attic of her home in Stourbridge Road, above Stoney Lane, as the scene unfolded yesterday at about 9.30am. "Everything went berserk," she said.
Witnesses also saw two hooded men run away from the scene, at the end of the Stoney Lane cul de sac, up an alleyway and into Stourbridge Road, sparking a police dog and helicopter chase across the town.
Holy Trinity School in Birmingham Road, Kidderminster, was told to keep its doors locked, with pupils and staff ordered to stay inside, while officers searched the grounds.
The officer who was pinned between the left-hand drive Audi A5 and the police van escaped with knee and arm injuries and a second policeman, the driver of the van, suffered cuts and bruises. Two more police officers were also injured but all were later released from hospital.
Mrs Lambert said: "I saw the car drive at the policeman, trapping him between the car and the police van.
"He and his colleagues were bashing on the car window trying to get the driver out.
"He drove forward over some conifers, hitting a car on a driveway, then reversed out and hit some more police officers, as well as the first policeman again," she said.
Superintendent Kevin Purcell said: "The officers were extremely lucky not to have been more seriously injured."
