Driver who ran down policewoman twice with stolen car gets seven years in jail

Drunk motorist was ‘careless beyond belief - it’s sheer luck more people weren’t injured,’ say Manchester police

Adam Forrest
Tuesday 11 December 2018 15:14 GMT
Driver knocks down policewoman on Kersal road, Manchester

A motorist who twice knocked over a policewoman in Manchester after she attempted to pull over his vehicle has been jailed for seven years.

Police described driver Reham Baluch, 32, as “completely reckless” after he was found guilty of assault and dangerous driving charges and sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Monday.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) released bodycam and CCTV footage of the driver mowing down PC Nina Foran, who can be heard screaming in the video.

The police constable had to be taken to hospital and treated for a serious hand injury. The force said it was “sheer luck” that more people weren’t badly hurt.

The 32-year-old motorist was drunk on Jack Daniels while driving, the court heard.

PC Foran and other officers responded to a report that a car had been stolen from a takeaway driver assaulted in the Prestwich area on the evening of 16 May.

The officers were still at the scene of the theft in Kersal Road when the stolen car was returned and PC Foran told the driver to get out of the vehicle.

Instead Baluch reversed the vehicle at speed and the car door slammed into the policewoman, who was thrown on to a parked car and then on to the ground.

The car also hit a male passer-by who was thrown backwards and landed between two parked cars as other members of the public and officers dived for cover.

Baluch then surged forward and the driver’s door hit a recovering PC Foran who was thrown to the ground a second time.

Driver Reham Baluch (left) and passenger Saqib Kader (right)

He went on to collide with several parked cars and a police van before the vehicle was found abandoned in Cheetham Hill.

PC Foran suffered cuts and bruises along with her hand injury. A pedestrian was taken to hospital where he was also treated for cuts and bruises.

Baluch, of no fixed address, was sentenced for offences of dangerous driving, aggravated taking of a vehicle without consent, assault, attempted assault and driving while disqualified.

He was also sentenced for a similar incident in Cheetham Hill on 19 March when he drove a vehicle at another officer who had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over.

Baluch’s passenger in the May incident, 27-year-old Saqib Kader was jailed for one year for taking a car without consent.

Following sentencing, Detective Constable Keith Holt said: “This was completely reckless behaviour by Baluch and Kader and they showed absolutely no regard for the officers or pedestrians involved.

“The manner in which Baluch acted was careless beyond belief and it is only down to sheer luck that more people weren’t injured.

“Officers put themselves on the line to protect our streets but they should never be subjected to something like this.”

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