Suspect 'hiding from police in attic' filmed putting foot through ceiling sending debris crashing onto officer below
A man believed to have been hiding from police in an attic was suddenly exposed when his foot burst through the ceiling, leaving his legs dangling only inches above an officer waiting in the room below.
Matty Walsh filmed the encounter at a party in Rochdale after he heard a banging at the door and someone shouting “police” – at which point one of the group vanished.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police entered the house and declared they were looking for a suspect, shortly before a loud creak was heard from the ceiling.
Mobile phone footage shows the moment a hole emerges in the roof and debris rain down on the police officer, as the man’s feet are left dangling in the gap above.
“We heard a cracking and the police said, “Who’s in the roof?”,” said Mr Walsh. “The next thing a foot comes in and the plaster comes down and almost hits the copper on the head.”
The 24-year-old builder added: “There was no way out and he came down when they went to get him. There was no way out so he just gave up.
“We were all having a laugh about it, I don’t know what the coppers thought of it.”
Mr Walsh said he began filming the two officers interviewing a party goer on the sofa on the opposite side of the room, just before the creak was heard coming from the roof.
He said that he had no idea who the man who fled to the attic was.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson confirmed that a man had been arrested at the Rochdale party following an earlier domestic assault in the area.
“Shortly after 2am on Saturday, June 1, officers responded to reports of a domestic assault in Rochdale," the spokesperson said.
“A male was detained at a nearby house in Ennerdale Road and arrested on suspicion of assault and breaching a restraining order.”
Additional reporting by SWNS