Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN Published: 11 May 2007
Police wrestle the suspect to the ground
The moment a teenage car thief is brought to book after a high-speed chase
A DRAMATIC high-speed car chase on Tuesday morning ended in the arrest of a suspected teenage car thief.
The Tribune captured the moment officers arrested the youth, who was wearing an electronic prison tag around his ankle.
The chase began in Stoke Newington High Street where the souped-up black Ford Focus was flagged up on a police computer as stolen in Essex.
Officers in high-performance pursuit cars and two riot vans pursued the youth as he sped through the small, tight streets and estates around New North Road and Essex Road.
But a police helicopter circling above meant there was nowhere to hide.
The Focus was finally stopped in Elizabeth Avenue where the driver was arrested and the car searched.
Witness Charles Sheppard, 56, who runs a wholesale warehouse, said: “The car came hurtling around the corner and screeched to a stop. “The bloke in the car put his hands up and the police officer told him to get on the floor. “He didn’t so the copper hit him across the legs with his telescopic stick. Two of them then took him down and before you know it there’s loads of police everywhere.”
Police said the youth was known to them and although the car was flagged as stolen it appeared to have a key in the ignition, showing no outward signs it had been ‘hot-wired’.
Essex police said a 17-year-old youth from “the N1 area” had been bailed until June 12 on suspicion of theft and burglary.