Aydin Altun, 26, has been convicted after being found guilty of ploughing his car into an armed police officer last year in London, in a vicious attack captured on CCTV.
On October 29th, 2019, PC Lewis Crowder along with two other colleagues were attempting to arrest Altun, when he “gunned forward at speed” in his black Mercedes into PC Crowder in an attempt to escape.
The officer was thrown in the air after he lost grip of the bonnet, barely missing a metal bus stop and concrete bollards, but left fading in and out of consciousness after the fall, according to CourtNewsUK.
PC Crowder told the court that he feared for his life, saying: “I could see the driver’s hands. They were on the steering wheel. As I cleared the front of the bonnet, I saw the driver turn his steering wheel towards me. I was thrown onto the bonnet of the car. I remember being scared for my life, I thought I was going to die.”
“I remember thinking: ‘If this car was going to crash, I was going to die.’ I can’t remember clearly whether I was hanging on the bonnet. I do remember my hand touching where the bonnet meets the windscreen,” he added.
Prosecutor Martin Bowyer described the attack as “truly shocking”, saying “no sooner was the car stopped that the car gunned forward at speed, throwing him on the bonnet of the vehicle leaving colleagues and bystanders both stunned.”
“PC Crowder clung onto the vehicle and saw Aydin Altun through the windscreen, and he recognised him from the image he had been shown earlier,” he noted.
Police officers were investigating Altun for a shooting that took place the night prior to the car attack. However, jurors cleared him in the shooting case.
Chris Bertham QC, the defence lawyer representing Altun, said that the 26-year-old was not trying to injure the officer but just to escape, claiming that he feared for his life when he saw the police were armed with semi-automatic rifles.
The jury cleared Aydin Altun of attempted murder and weapons charges, but found him guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm. The jury also cleared his mother Sutan Altun, 54, and sister Hanim Altun, 24, of attempting to pervert the cause of justice through lying about the Mercedes used in the attack being stolen.
Altun will face sentencing for his crime on Friday, October 16th.
Following the judgement, Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe of Met Operations said: “We’re just weeks on from the awful killing of Sgt Matt Ratana, I’m pleased that a dangerous criminal who drove at an officer and put his life in danger has been convicted.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.