Police search for man who assaulted officer and crashed into West Hampstead pub
The driver was also said to have crashed into the Alice House pub in West End Lane, West Hampstead. Picture: Google Street View - Credit: Archant
Police are searching for a man who assaulted an officer, dragged them down a street with his car and then crashed into a pub in West Hampstead.
A police helicopter was scrambled and the area sealed off as an urgent manhunt was carried out in the early hours on Wednesday, February 11.
The incident came after two plain-clothes police officers became suspicious of a man sitting in a Mini in Netherwood Street, NW6, at about 1.30am.
After one of the officers “knocked on the window displaying his warrant card for the driver to see”, the driver was said to have driven off at high speed.
The vehicle was pursued in an unmarked police car along Sherriff Road until the driver stopped and reversed at speed towards the police car.
The driver then got out of the car and as an officer approached him explaining they were police and they wanted to speak to him, the driver ran back to the car.
Further up the road the driver stopped and reversed again. The driver was said to have exited the vehicle and begun shouting at the officers.
Most Read
- 1 The most expensive homes sold in Haringey in November 2021
- 2 'We're proud of what we do': Kossoffs celebrates six months in Kentish Town
- 3 Italian sandwich shop opens in a Hampstead telephone box
- 4 Ex-manager admits defrauding Paddington Sports Club
- 5 'We don't need to drink more coffee' say cafés as Joe & The Juice moves in
- 6 Air ambulance mobilised as boy, 15, knifed in South Hampstead
- 7 Sexual offence reports at record levels in Camden, Haringey and Barnet
- 8 Cops swoop on cannabis farm rumoured to be 'largest ever' busted in Haringey
- 9 Ricky Gervais behind new benches for people grieving to 'talk and reflect'
- 10 The man who wants to put trains among the trees from Muswell Hill to Highgate
As he got back into the car, one of the officers tried to get him out but was assaulted. The man then drove off, dragging the officer along the road for a few feet.
The officers continued their pursuit and less than a minute after losing sight of the vehicle it was found crashed against a lamppost in nearby Inglewood Road.
The Alice House pub in West End Lane confirmed it had found a significant proportion of its outdoor decking destroyed – damage thought to have been caused by the driver. Luckily, the pub was shut at the time and nobody was hurt.
A spokesman for the police said: “Passers-by told the officers that the driver had fled up West End Lane and into an alley way that runs into a service road behind the shops on West End Lane.
“The area was sealed off and the Air Support Unit and a dog unit were called in to aid with the search.
“Unfortunately, the man was not found. Enquiries continue.”
If you have any information on the incident, contact police on 101 or anonymously at Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
