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Police officer thought he was ‘going to die’ when he was hit by car

A police officer who was run over by a suspected drug dealer said he thought he was going to die when he was struck by the man who is now accused of trying to kill him.

Zeng Xing Yu, also known as Wenjie 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 Glasgow’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 officer.

The vehicle crashed into him and, with him on the bonnet, travelled towards the Vauxhall Corsa in which he had arrived at the scene. Giving evidence, Pc Kerr told the jury: “I thought I was going to be crushed. I thought I was going to die.”

The High Court, in Paisley
Two men are on trial at the High Court in Paisley (John Linton/PA)

The plain-clothes police officer told the jury of the moments before he was struck by the car, and said his colleagues had identified themselves as police officers.

He said the vehicle was revving and thought the driver was about to make off, so he went around to the driver’s side door to help his colleague smash open the window, and as he did he moved in front of the vehicle.

“The car suddenly accelerated towards me and struck me,” he told the court.

He said he managed to get a “slight jump” on to the car, but he hit his head and shoulder on the vehicle. Seconds later he fell to the ground.

The car that had just struck him had come to a halt, he told the court, but the engine was still revving.

He was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, where doctors found a four- to five-centimetre laceration to his scalp that required six stiches, and multiple abrasions and bruises to his lower legs and ankle.

He was away from full duties for more than three months, the court was told. “I’m still getting pain in my legs but I’m back at work,” he said.

The footage shown to the court revealed the moment Pc Kerr was hit by the vehicle, and was captured using a mobile phone by a witness from a nearby property.

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.

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.