Britain's Keystone Kops still in form

Police 'rammed' a car containing a five-year-old boy and his pregnant mother after mistaking it for a vehicle used in an armed robbery due to a registration mix-up.

Shiri Rahman, her husband Abdur, sister Rujeena, and Mohammed Eesaa, five, were driving home in the early hours of Monday morning after picking up their son from Bradford Royal Infirmary, West Yorkshire, when the incident happened.

The Bradford family was barricaded in by three unmarked cars, one containing armed officers, which crashed into the back of their Lexus. The family was terrified as they didn't realise it was the police and suffered head, neck and back pain as a result of the impact.

Police had stopped the vehicle after responding to an alert over a car used during an armed robbery of a jewellers in Doncaster the day before.

Three masked men had entered the HL Browns sore with weapons including a hammer and an axe before fleeing with a haul of watches.

The men fled the scene in a car, damaging a police car during their getaway, before ditching it.

Mrs Rahman, who is 11-weeks pregnant, said: 'I would never have imagined myself in such a terrifying position. 'I was looking out of the window and it felt like we were in a crime scene you would see on a movie set. My son was in tears, my husband and sister were in shock and I was having an anxiety attack. I could hardly breathe.

'The worst part is the incident shut down traffic and the noise caused people to come out and see what was going on. We were made to look like criminals.'

The family was driving along Ingleby Road, which goes into Horton Grange Road, when police stopped them at 12.30am.

Mrs Rahman, a counter assistant in a chemist, said: 'It all happened so fast. My husband saw a car waiting at the lights when they went green so he flashed it with his lights to try and alert them. We didn't realise it was an unmarked police car at the time and went around it when it would not move.

'As soon as we went past, my husband noticed the car started to follow us. He slowed down to let the car pass. It went in front of us and braked, forcing my husband to stop but then we were hit by another car which pulled up beside us and then a third one hit us in the back.'

The family were thrown about their car as the police rammed their vehicle multiple times.

Mr Rahman, a 34-year-old waiter, was taken into a police car while checks were made, and another officer got in the family's car and took their details.

Police explained the situation to the family and apologised for the mix-up, but Mrs Rahman said their actions were aggressive and unnecessary. The family were told the vehicle involved in the robbery used cloned registration plates similar to the one on their vehicle.

'The force was unnecessary. There was no chase and we even slowed down for them even in a 30 speed limit area with speed cameras around. They never alerted us with a light or siren to pull over.'

She said she is now taking medication for her head and her son suffered 'severe whiplash' as a result of the crash.

Detective Superintendent Jon Morgan, of Bradford District Police, said they pulled the Rahman's car over after receiving information about a vehicle 'which was believed to have been used in an armed robbery'.

He said: 'Following inquiries, a vehicle bearing the suspected number plate was sighted in Ingleby Road, Bradford. 'In accordance with the information received armed officers were deployed to stop the vehicle safely, which resulted in a minor collision.'

Det. Sup. Morgan said an ambulance was called to attend to the family.

The vehicle involved in the robbery, has since been recovered. Details about the robbery were not yet available.

Original report here

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