Ford Transit driver injured five cops in deliberate ramming

Thomas Toczek ‘didn’t give a damn’ about a driving ban and a suspended sentence order hanging over him when he sped off at 4.30pm on Wednesday, September 21, Judge Andrew Hatton said today.

Thomas Toczek (Image: Police)

Toczek, 30, of Richard Whiteley Drive, Baildon, rammed one officer’s car four times leaving her with neck and back injuries, and put a BMW X5 firearms unit vehicle out of action during ‘a long, sustained, atrocious piece of dangerous driving.’

Bradford Crown Court heard that he was flouting a three-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, imposed by the court on May 6 for dangerous driving when he got behind the wheel of the white van.

Dashcam footage from the ramming (Image: Police)

Prosecutor Adam Walker said Toczek was a banned and uninsured driver when the female officer spotted him running a red light on Green Lane in Baildon. She activated her sirens and blue lights and set off after him along Otley Road.

Toczek pulled over but then did a U turn and made off, Mr Walker said.

The officer requested back-up as he sped down Cliffe Lane West and then backed into her car before jumping more red lights and going round the roundabout at the Noble Comb public house in Shipley the wrong way.

A police vehicle which was damaged (Image: Police)

Toczek went on to deliberately drive the van into her car three more times and almost hit a lorry before the officers in the BMW took over the pursuit.

The court heard that Toczek rammed the BMW twice, stalling it the first time and hitting it so hard on Nab Lane that it was put out of action.

Mr Walker said multiple vehicles then had to avoid the van, including a motorcycle he drove straight at.

Another police vehicle damaged (Image: Police)

More police officers took up the pursuit until Toczek mounted the pavement on Saltaire Road and came to a stop.

The court heard that the female officer was checked over in hospital after sustaining neck and back injuries. She was still on restricted duties and having to pay for physiotherapy to speed up her recovery. She was left suffering with anxiety and she now panicked if a vehicle braked hard in front of her.

Toczek told the police he fled from them because he knew he was breaching the suspended sentence order and feared he would go to prison.

He pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and uninsured and assaulting five police officers as emergency workers. He admitted breaching the suspended sentence order imposed just four months earlier and was remanded in custody to HMP Leeds.

Toczek had four previous convictions for 11 offences, including driving without a licence and insurance. His solicitor advocate, Julian White, said prison was inevitable and Toczek was fully aware of that.

“He has shot himself in both feet,” Mr White added.

His client was diabetic and not properly managing his medication at the time but that was his own fault. It was extremely bad driving caused by distorted thinking.

He had eventually pulled over, waited for the police and made full admissions.

Toczek was in a relationship and cared for his poorly mother.

He had run a business collecting broken down vehicles and scrap metal. After he was banned from driving he employed a driver who had let him down that day.

“His business has now ceased and he faces a period of time in custody,” Mr White said.

Judge Hatton told Toczek: “You quite happily drove around the streets of West Yorkshire not giving a damn about what the court had imposed in May.”

“It was a long, sustained and atrocious piece of dangerous driving,” Judge Hatton continued.

In addition to that, he had collided with a number of police vehicles injuring five officers.

Toczek was jailed for 14 months for dangerous driving, six months for assaulting the officers, two months for driving while disqualified, and the suspended sentence was activated. All the sentences were consecutive, making 25 months in all.

He was banned from driving for three years on his release from prison.