Shocking video footage shows a man ramming a police vehicle with a car he stole near Harborough

Shocking video footage showing a man using a stolen car to ram a police vehicle leaving a police dog inside seriously distressed has been released by the force.

Socks, a springer spaniel, was at the centre of the terrifying drama after Alex Lundy, 45, stole a woman’s Audi in a village near Market Harborough.

Lundy took the car from a driveway in Cold Ashby, running over the shocked owner’s foot as he did so, on February 26 this year.

Police dashed to the incident and the Audi was found abandoned a short time later.

But as an officer was asking people if they had seen the suspect, Lundy drove at him in another car before haring off.

The criminal was tracked to Rothwell.

There he was blocked into a driveway by quick-thinking PC Lucy Sculthorpe, a Northamptonshire Police dog handler.

She told him to stay where he was and got one of her two dogs, Bryn, a German Shepherd, out of her car.

But Lundy then rammed her vehicle, nearly crushing her and Bryn against a stone wall.

In her statement following the incident, PC Sculthorpe wrote: “PD (Police Dog) Bryn is trained to protect me.

“He is a young, enthusiastic dog who is committed to his job and I trust him implicitly.

“However, it is also my job to protect him.

“I knew that if I allowed him to continue trying to get to the suspect then there was a high risk that he would be injured under the wheels of the BMW or by being squashed against the wall,” said PC Sculthorpe.

“For this reason I made the decision, as soon as the suspect started driving forwards, to jump backwards away from the BMW and pull Bryn away as well so that he wouldn't be hurt.

“I didn’t expect the suspect to reverse back again.

“And so when he did I feared he was aiming for me and Bryn to prevent us from trying to stop him.

“I was fearful of Bryn or I being injured.”

Lundy then sped off.

He led officers on a chase around Rothwell before he crashed into a tree on Moorfield Road.

Lundy was chased by one officer who jumped a garden fence to catch him.

The wanted man gave up and was arrested as the officer trained his Taser stun gun at him.

“After the incident, I checked Bryn over for injuries and saw that he thankfully, appeared to be okay.

“I then got PD Socks out of the police vehicle to check him over as he had been inside when it was being rammed.

“PD Socks is normally a very friendly, lively, sociable little dog who loves people.

“When I first got him out of the van after this incident he seemed a little shaken.

“He would normally look at me straight away for his ball,” said PC Sculthorpe.

“But he just wandered around on the grass for a few minutes and when a male nearby spoke to me, he moved away from him whereas he would normally go over to someone and look for attention.

“I reassured him and put him back in the van to settle whilst I tried to source another one to transfer both dogs into so that mine could be recovered.

“The following day when I put Bryn and Socks in the van to go for a walk I noticed that Socks was much more unsettled than he usually is.

“He was pacing around the pod and standing up whereas he would normally just lay down for the whole journey.

“I believe that the incident unsettled him and made him temporarily more nervous of being in the van.

“This took a couple of days to resolve and I made several short test journeys with him to reassure him that he would be okay.”

Socks has made a full recovery and is back to his lively, happy self after attending a catalogue of successful incidents since.

Lundy caused £3,700 damage to the police car and left it so battered it couldn’t be driven.

He was jailed for three years at Northampton Crown Court in March after admitting a string of serious offences, including dangerous driving.

Lead investigators, Det Con Ali Deamer and Det Con Karen Rohman-Johnson, said: “We are really pleased Alex Lundy was given three years behind bars and sincerely hope he uses this time to think about his actions in order to make better choices when he is released from prison.

“His behaviour that day was dangerous, violent and reckless. “He could have caused serious, if not fatal injuries, to the police officers, police dogs and members of the public involved.

“We really hope he continues to reflect on that fact.”

You can watch the bodycam video footage of the incredible ramming drama involving Lundy here: https://youtu.be/JLRSD6Awwic