Man, 29, is charged with ‘ramming police car SEVEN times’ on New Year’s Day leaving the vehicle a mangled wreck and three officers injured
- Paul Neelan is charged with attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on police
- 29-year-old will be at court today after being released from hospital yesterday
- Unemployed driver additionally charged with two counts of dangerous driving
- He allegedly also deliberately crashed into second police car on New Year’s Day
A motorist will appear in court today after allegedly ramming a Ford Transit van into a police patrol car seven times on New Year’s Day, leaving three officers injured.
Paul Neelan, 29, has been charged with two counts of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on officers in Coventry after being released from hospital yesterday.
The unemployed driver has additionally been charged with two counts of dangerous driving after it was alleged that he also deliberately crashed into a second police car.
Three police officers were injured when a van driver allegedly rammed their car in Coventry
Neelan, who is from Cedars Avenue in the city, was further charged with driving while disqualified. He will appear at Coventry Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Three West Midlands Police officers suffered back and neck injuries but none were seriously hurt in the incident on Hummingbird Avenue at 1.30am on January 1.
Detectives released what they described as a ‘shocking’ image showing ‘one of our emergency response cars wrecked after it was repeatedly rammed in Coventry’.
A police spokesman said: ‘You may recall we issued a shocking image on New Year’s Day showing one of our emergency response cars wrecked after it was repeatedly rammed in Coventry. Well we’ve now charged a man in connection with the incident.
The incident happened on Hummingbird Avenue in Coventry at 1.30am on New Year’s Day
‘Paul Neelan, from Cedars Avenue in Coventry, is accused of ramming his van into the patrol car seven times in Hummingbird Avenue at 1.30am on January 1.
‘The 29-year-old was brought into police custody having been released from hospital yesterday and has been charged with two counts of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on two police officers.
‘He’s also been charged with two counts of dangerous driving – as it’s alleged he also deliberately crashed into another police vehicle – and driving while disqualified.
‘Unemployed Neelan is set to appear at Coventry Magistrates Court this morning. Three officers suffered back and neck injuries but thankfully were not seriously hurt.’