WATCH: Cop pulls Great Barr crook from stolen bike in dramatic arrest
This video shows the moment a Black Country crook was caught and pulled from a stolen motorbike while stuck in traffic.
David Hart was waiting for the road ahead to clear when he was snared by police in a dramatic arrest caught on camera.
Unknown to Hart, he was being followed by two West Midlands Police traffic officers in an unmarked car when he got caught up in the jam in Birmingham.
WATCH footage of the arrest here:
The KSR Moto GRS 125 he was riding had been flagged to Pc Mitchell Darby and his colleague as stolen, and the pair were waiting directly behind Hart as he pulled up in Belchers Lane, Bordesley Green in May.
As Hart nodded his head waiting for the stationary cars to move, Pc Darby leapt from the patrol car and grabbed him, toppling the four-stroke bike and making sure the 27-year-old could not get away.
The arrest was caught on camera and Hart, of Perrywood Grove, Great Barr, was convicted of taking the bike without consent in his absence at Birmingham Magistrates Court on July 13.
He was then arrested by officers as a wanted man and was sentenced last Monday to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and to pay £705 costs and victim surcharge.
He was sentenced on the basis of taking the vehicle without consent but not being the original taker and also banned from the road for nine months for having no licence or insurance.
Hart also received a £50 fine for being found with cannabis and a similar sum for failing to appear at court.
Pc Darby said: “The bike flagged up as being stolen but we didn’t want to risk not making the arrest; as we did not know whether the rider would race off if he became aware we were officers.
“Once we came into stationary traffic I made the decision to quickly jump out of the car and managed to grab hold and arrest Hart.
“It emerged the bike had been stolen from Northampton almost two weeks earlier and we found that the ignition barrel was completely missing, meaning it had been ‘hotwired,’ while the fuel cap had been forced open as this was usually locked and secured with the key.
“It is not clear who stole it originally but it ended up in the hands of Hart who had no hesitation in treating it like his own.
"The action we took highlights that vehicle crime will not be tolerated."