Suffolk police officer hangs from drug dealer’s car during arrest
By: -----
Sudbury, UK - A man who reversed and crashed a vehicle while a police officer hung onto the side of the car has been jailed for four years.
Appearing at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, February 6, Josef Zielinski (pictured above) of Arboretum Place, Barking, Greater London, was jailed for four years as well as being given a three-year driving ban for drugs, driving and other offences.
Fortunately, the officers only suffered minor injuries, when on November 8, last year, Zielinski decided to reverse his vehicle after being stopped in Sudbury in relation to possible drug offences.
The 33-year-old smashed into a vehicle behind that had stopped, damaging both vehicles, before he was arrested.
Officers had earlier spotted a vehicle which intelligence from members of the public had linked to the supply of drugs in Sudbury.
Two officers in a police car stopped the vehicle and tried to engage with the driver, Zielinski.
Shortly after PC Owen Turner had opened the driver’s door, Zielinski put the vehicle into reverse.
PC Turner was forced to jump into the vehicle and hang onto the side, while his colleague was knocked over and dragged by the vehicle as it reversed and then crashed into a stationary vehicle behind it.
PC Turner turned the vehicle off however Zielinski turned it back on, before he was removed from the vehicle and detained.
Officers conducted a search of the vehicle, with 10 wraps of cocaine located under the vehicle which Zielinski had discarded during the struggle.
Zielinski was taken into custody and was later charged with a number of offences, pleading guilty at court in December. He was sentenced on February 6 to the following:
* Possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (cocaine) – two years and nine months;
* Dangerous driving – one year and three months (to be served consecutively);
* Assault occasioning actual bodily harm – 17 weeks (to be served concurrently);
* Assault occasioning actual bodily harm – 17 weeks (to be served concurrently); and
* Criminal damage – nine weeks (to be served concurrently).
PC Owen Turner, who was shown in body-worn and dash camera footage hanging onto the side of Zielinski’s car as it reversed and then crashed, said: “I conduct vehicle stops daily and what I thought would be a simple stop left me thinking that I might die and that my colleague and friend was either seriously injured or dead.