Norfolk police officers dragged along trying to stop car

PC Lee Cater had been involved in chasing a Ford C-Max car from the Hardwick roundabout in King's Lynn before it was stopped near to the Saddlebow roundabout.

Hardwick roundabout in King's Lynn (Image: Newsquest)But Francesko Pacuku, 28, suddenly reversed the car, slamming into a police van, prompting PC Cater and his colleague, PC Tony Preston, to run towards the car to open the front door before it smashed into another police vehicle.

Norwich Crown Court heard the police officers were "holding on" and "dragged along by the vehicle as it moved".

Norwich Crown Court (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)But they were able to pull Pacuku from the car, in which £1,600 worth of cocaine was found, and arrest him for dangerous driving as well as possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Following the incident, which happened on December 31 last year, PC Cater said: "This isn’t necessarily something you expect to face coming into work but you never quite know what you will be dealing with. 

"We were dragged along a bit while we took hold of the suspect to stop him driving away from the scene, it all happened very quickly. We subsequently found drugs in the vehicle."

Pacuku, of no fixed address, was jailed for 24 months last month after he previously admitted possession with intent to supply the 23g of cocaine found in the vehicle as well as dangerous driving.

Francesko Pacuku (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)Recorder John Brooke-Smith said the driving was "appalling" and insisted "the officers were justifiably very alarmed and feared for their own safety by what you did".

Will Carter, mitigating, said Pacuku, who had no previous offences in this country, left Albania "unlawfully by boat" in June 2022 and then "owed money" and "in order to repay that debt he would have to run these drugs".

Packuku was also disqualified from driving for 24 months and ordered to take an extended retest before he can drive again.