A young policeman suffered an ‘excruciatingly painful’ twisting fracture to his upper arm as a man he was trying to arrest struggled violently to break free.
And at Warwick Crown Court, Aaron Watson pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Pc Mohammed Javed but denied a more serious charge of doing so with intent to resist arrest.
That plea was accepted, and Watson (28) of Emscote Road, Stoke, Coventry, was jailed for 21 months.
Prosecutor Adam Western said that at one in the morning on February 8 Pc Javed was responding to a call about a public order matter when he saw Watson getting out of a car in Spencer Street.
He was wanted after failing to turn up for a hearing at Coventry magistrates’ court in October, and made off when he saw the officer.
Pc Javed gave chase, telling him to stop, and grabbed him by his arm.
But Watson was struggling and lashing out, and Pc Javed, a 25-year-old student constable, ‘felt something go’ in his left upper arm, and lost all feeling in the arm and lost his grip.
Leaving the officer in agony, Watson ran off, but was found and arrested by other officers an hour later.
Meanwhile Pc Javed was taken to University Hospital in Coventry before being referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after suffering a spiral fracture to his left humerus.
In a statement made recently Pc Javed said he faces uncertainly over his recovery, and he has not had it confirmed whether the fracture will heal or whether he will need surgery.
He has problems sleeping and suffers flashbacks in which he hears the sound of his arm breaking, and he fears the effect the injury will have on his policing career.
Mr Western added that Watson had previous convictions for offences including violence, and at the time was subject to a community order for harassment and causing damage.
John O’Higgins, defending, said: “His actions on that night had a serious but unintentional consequence.
“But this was unfocussed struggling, as opposed to a focussed assault.”
Jailing Watson, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “You have today pleaded guilty to an offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Pc Javed.
“This episode, which took place at night, involved police constable Javed’s attempt to apprehend you, and your very determined effort to struggle free from his grasp.
“In the course of that he sustained a spiral, that is twisting, fracture to the upper bone in his left arm. That was an excruciatingly painful injury from the first moment.
“There is a question mark over what pace and what extent of recovery he can reasonably expect, and what effect it will have on a fledgling career in the police service.
“This was an offence committed against a public servant putting his life and limb, an appropriate word in this case, on the line in the public interest.
“Public servants like police officers are entitled to the protection of the courts when they are injured, even if the injury is reckless rather than deliberate.”
