WATCH: Police officer critically injured when hit by stolen car returns to work
A police officer who was knocked down and run over by a stolen police car has returned to work nearly a year after the incident which almost cost his life.
One of the men managed to jump into an unmarked police car and reverse it – knocking PC Phillips over, before driving over him and speeding off at up to 90mph.
Pc Phillips – who has worked with West Midlands Police for 19 years – suffered a head injury, internal bleeding and his spine became detached from his pelvis, which was shattered.
He underwent three rounds of emergency surgery, including the first operation which was described as "life-saving", and spent four weeks in hospital.
Speaking a week after two of Pc Harper’s killers were told they will only serve two-thirds of their 13-year sentences in custody, Pc Phillips said he was lucky to have no memory of the moment he was hit by a hijacked police BMW last August.
The constable, whose wife is a police officer, said he had not viewed full video footage of the incident in which he was hurt on August 10 last year.
“I tend not to think about the day to be honest because for me it’s more about going forwards and trying to get better,” he said.
WATCH: PC Gaz Phillips returns to work one year after accident
“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.”
Car thief Mubashar Hussain, who had four previous convictions for crimes involving dangerous driving, was jailed for 12 years last October.
Birmingham Crown Court was told Hussain was Tasered at the wheel of a stolen Range Rover but struggled past officers into a police car, ran over Pc Phillips, and then sped away at up to 97mph.
The court heard the 29-year-old was apprehended by armed police in Sparkbrook after being tracked by a helicopter.
The court was told Hussain was wearing a balaclava when he reversed the 4x4 away from an arriving police car, while his accomplice Ahsan Ghafoor threw a house brick.
Ghafoor, 24, of Fulham Road, Sparkhill, was jailed for 28 months after admitting two counts of car theft and three driving offences including dangerous driving, having no insurance and driving other than in accordance with a licence.
Pc Phillips, who learned of Pc Harper’s death a day after medical staff in Birmingham had taken him off a ventilator, added: “Something needs to change, doesn’t it, because people don’t seem to have any qualms any more with assaulting police officers, or the paramedics who were stabbed the other week.
“Whether it’s paramedics, police officers or doctors, we don’t go to work to get injured, we go to work to help people.
“To have some backing or support from the court network through sentencing would be a huge step forward.”
Pc Phillips, whose father is a retired officer, went on: “On a daily basis people will do ridiculous things for seemingly minor crimes.
“Maybe stricter sentences or harsher sentences will make people not want to take those chances.
“None of us should have to come to work and face the possibility of not being able to go home at the end of your shift.”
Asked for his view of criminals in similar cases being given early release on licence, Pc Phillips replied: “I think they should serve their full sentence.
“It goes back to the deterrent thing.”
Pc Phillips, aged 43 years old, has just returned to work, doing half days in the control room supporting colleagues in the Central Motorway Police Group.
He is waiting for further scans to see how his spine, pelvis and hand injuries have healed. While he may need further surgery, he hopes to eventually return to frontline duties.
Pc Phillips said: “I remember everything about what happened, apart from actually being run over. But I am focused on the future now. It is good to be back – I have been stubborn and didn’t want to take no for an answer so I could get back to work as quickly as possible.
“Everyone’s been amazing. I didn’t realise how much we are appreciated until I was injured. I got cards from all around the county. They made a massive difference to my wife and family, and they really motivated to me to get better.
“Work have been brilliant. They couldn’t have done any more, right down to giving me a dog, Kensi, to puppy walk.
“What happened highlights the dangers we face every day. You never know how each job is going to end up.”
While in hospital, Pc Phillips contacted the original designer of the CMPG mascot, Perry Bear. The designer agreed to make a modified version, bandaged and using a crutch, which was turned into pin badges to be sold to friends and family.
Their sale has now raised £1,500 for the intensive treatment unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Pc Phillips added: “Without the treatment I received at the QE, I wouldn’t be here today.
"Everyone there from the doctors to the nurses and other staff were fantastic.”
