Footage of car hitting police officer shown to jury in attempted murder trial

A jury has been played footage of the moment a police officer was hit by a car in Glasgow, as the trial of the man accused of trying to kill him enters its second day.

Zeng Xing Yu, also known as Wenji Yu, is accused of attempting to murder Pc Neil Kerr on July 21 last year when he drove into him in Devonshire Gardens Lane in the city’s West End.

At the High Court in Paisley on Thursday, the jury was shown the short clip of the moment Pc Kerr was hit by the Mercedes C-Class which Yu is accused of using to try to kill the non-uniformed police officer.

The footage showed three police officers around the vehicle in the street, and the engine can be heard revving.

Giving evidence, Detective Constable Robert Allen told the court he had pressed his warrant card against the window and told Yu to stop, and that his colleague Pc Stuart Nutt was behind the vehicle and Pc Kerr at the front.

Seconds into the footage, Pc Kerr is hit by the car. Then he is on the bonnet, the Mercedes crashes into a parked Vauxhall Corsa, and the police officer falls off.

The C-Class used in the alleged murder attempt comes to a halt seconds later, and the engine can still be heard revving.

Prosecutor John McElroy ran the jury through the footage, and while questioning DC Allen said: “We have a man in the car being told by at least two police officers to stop, police.

“We have the same man in the car shown police identification against the driver’s door window. We have a man in front of him and he’s got handcuffs and police radio.”

DC Allen then told the court: “The vehicle begins to move, he’s bracing for the vehicle to hit him.”

Mr McElroy continued to describe the footage as it was being played to the court, the video showing how Pc Kerr’s head hits the bonnet after the vehicle hits him.

“The Mercedes very near to the Vauxhall Corsa and Mr Kerr looks as if he’s about to be sandwiched between the two of them,” Mr McElroy said.

“The driver can clearly see him. The driver continues to drive at speed along the lane.”

The 49-year-old is also accused of resisting arrest, and the court was played footage captured just moments after the incident that showed a struggle with police officers.

Yu has lodged a special defence and said he believed he was under attack from a number of armed men, and that he was in a state of fear and alarm.

Pc Rachel Walls, who was sent to the area with Pc Kerr after intelligence suggested a property was being used as a safehouse, was in the stand for the second day.

Donald Findlay, Yu’s defence QC, questioned how easy it would be to have seen a police identification lanyard.

Yu is using a Chinese interpreter for the hearing, and at one point Mr Findlay shouted the mandarin word for police.

He asked Pc Walls what it meant, and added: “If you as a Scottish English-speaking police officer don’t know the mandarin for police, might it be reasonable a Chinese native mandarin speaker might not know the English for police?”

He told the court members of the public had called 999 because they were concerned about what they were seeing.

Yu has denied the charges.

He is also charged along with 31-year-old Wang Wen of being concerned in the supply of cannabis, a class-B drug, in Montague Lane and Devonshire Gardens Lane.

The trial, before Judge Fiona Tait, continues.