Watch: video of handcuffed Cumbrian suspect driving away in police car
The video footage was released after a court heard about the night when suspected drink driver Keiran George, 33, escape from two British Transport Police officers in their marked police car after being arrested. George had fought with the officers on a bridge overlooking the M6 in south Cumbria because he was desperate to find his dog – which like him had escaped unhurt when his car dramatically crashed on a roundabout. It was after his arrest, while handcuffed in the rear of the police car during the early hours of November 19 last year, that George accomplished his remarkable feat of escape.
Somehow, he managed to pull his handcuffed hands to the front of his body before then wriggling into police car’s driver seat and then driving away. The police officers he left stranded at the roadside turned to two Good Samaritans for help, accepting their offer to pursue the fleeing police car along the M6 for several miles as they gave instructions from the rear seats. During the pursuit, George drove at more than 90mph.
George eventually abandoned the police care and remained at large for some days.
In court, the defendant, of Highgate, Kendal, admitted escaping from lawful custody, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified, and assaulting an emergency worker, namely a police officer.