Drunk driver jailed after ramming police car during chase

A drunk driver who rammed a police car during a high-speed chase has been jailed for 10 months.

Asam Hussain was spotted driving his Seat Leon erratically by a roads policing officer near the Watchorn Island, Alfreton, at 1.50am on 14 December, 2020.

The officer tried to pull Hussain over but the 28-year-old refused and drove off at high speed along the A38. Hussain left the A38 at the B600 junction and raced through Somercotes, Selston and Underwood at speed before joining the northbound M1 at junction 27.

More cars from both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire joined the chase and attempted to box the Seat in. Hussain drove extremely aggressively, nearly crashing into one of the cars, before leaving the motorway at junction 29. Still driving at high-speed Hussain raced along the A6175 through Heath and Holmewood before finally re-joining the A38 into Mansfield town centre.

Hussain, who by this point had turned off the lights on his car, failed to negotiate the junction at the corner of Rosemary Street and Chesterfield Street and crashed into a wall. He then reversed into a Nottinghamshire Police armed response vehicle – causing nearly £4,000 of damage to the car. Fortunately, there were no injuries to the officers.

Hussain was arrested at the scene and provided a positive road side breath test. In custody Hussain, of no-fixed abode, blew a reading of 76 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

Hussain was also found to be disqualified from driving and was eventually charged with dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance, failing to stop for police and drink driving.

He appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday 26 January where he pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 10 months in prison and disqualified from driving for five years and five months.

Inspector Greg Hunt, who leads the roads policing team in Derbyshire, said: “That nobody was killed or seriously hurt as a result of Hussain’s actions is simply pure luck.

“Drunk and disqualified, he put the lives of every other person on the road at risk with his actions that night – along with the officers who eventually brought him to justice.

“This case goes to show the fantastic cross-border work with our colleagues in Nottinghamshire and I hope sends the message that we don’t simply stop when you cross over into any of our neighbouring forces. If anything, you are just doubling your problems.”

Armed Response Sergeant James Carrington, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was a very long and dangerous pursuit crossing county boundaries, travelling at high speeds and taking officers through various small villages and back on to main roads.

“We were pleased we could support our colleagues in Derbyshire, and despite one of our armed response vehicles suffering damage in the process, it was a relief to be able to bring this pursuit to an end in Mansfield.

“This behaviour on the roads is unacceptable and puts lives at risk. We will absolutely investigate, and work together with our neighbouring forces when required as we did in this case, to ensure the safety of everyone on the road and those who break the law are brought to justice.”

We’re currently sharing the work we do across our varied communities as part of Operation Derbyshire.

Operation Derbyshire runs until the end of May. It will see officers and staff sharing with our communities the excellent work that is going on to tackle certain crime types in the county and support victims.

Operation Derbyshire will also highlight the work that we and our partners do to support victims and bring offenders to justice.

You can follow our work on social media by following #OpDerbyshire.