Moment driver of stolen Porsche is tasered after city centre chase
Watch: Moment police Taser Porsche thief
Dramatic dashcam footage shows the moment police tasered a Porsche thief after a city centre car chase.
Clips show officers pursue Lee Smythe through Birmingham as he runs a red light and attempts to negotiate the icy road, almost crashing at a busy roundabout.
But police managed to ram him off the road and box him in, and footage shows the race-prepared 911 GTS audibly being revved as Smythe tried to spin away.
An officer then smashes the passenger side window before the thief is Tasered and dragged out of the high performance car.
PC Rich Storer, from West Midland's traffic unit, was involved in the arrest. He said: “Smythe lost control of the Porsche on the slippery surface and was fortunate not to collide with other road users.
“We knew we had to stop him quickly as he was an accident waiting to happen. We used some tactical contact to box him in and were able to swiftly get him in handcuffs.
“It was a good job – to have him locked up little more than two hours after the Porsche was reported stolen was a great effort.”
West Midlands Police said officers were tipped off earlier on 25 January that the Porsche had been stolen.
Read more: Woman 'killed and dismembered after being lured into stranger's flat on night out'
Smythe was picked up heading towards Birmingham on road cameras and a traffic patrol spotted him in the city station before the pursuit began.
The defendant, from Birmingham, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, and firearms possession – the latter in relation to a can of pepper spray, which is classed as a firearm.
He was jailed for 16 months at Birmingham Crown Court on 25 February, and was also banned from driving for three years and eight months.
He will have to take an extended test to get his licence back.
Watch: How England will leave lockdown
