A police arrest went horribly wrong on Sunday when a man in handcuffs stole a police car and crashed it into a house in Ashtonfield.
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About 10.30am, an off-duty police officer witnessed a domestic incident in South Seas Drive.
Police were contacted and officers from Central Hunter Local Area Command attended and arrested the woman’s partner.
The man was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car while details were taken from his partner.
The man, in his 30s, managed to get into the driver’s seat of the police vehicle and drive away.
A short time later he crashed into two parked cars in a carport.
A male occupant of the home said he was sitting in the front room when the police vehicle crashed.
“We heard the bang and came outside and saw the cop car ploughed into our cars in the carport,” he said.
“We took a look and thought ‘we can’t really see anyone in the car,’ then I heard this groan and a guy with handcuffs put his hands outside the driver’s window.
“The highway turns at my house, [and] I’m on the first corner, and he’s just driven straight.
“He took out the light pole, came across the front yard and took out some of the posts on my verandah and carport, and then just hit the two parked cars and [pushed them sideways].”
The male occupant believes both the vehicles in his carport will be written off.
“You hear some gooses carrying on around their in cars anyway, because of the corner,” the occupant said.
“Then we heard the big bang, which was obviously the light post [being struck].
“Then I could see through the blinds a cop car crashed into our cars. Then we came outside and it was all happening.”
The man wasn’t injured in the crash and was taken to Maitland police station before being taken to hospital for observation.
He remains under police guard and was expected to be charged with multiple offences.
Police said he would be refused bail to appear at Maitland Local Court today.
