Car attack cop: I thought that I was going to die

PC tells court colleague saved her life

A POLICE officer has told a court she thought she was going to die after a car knocked her down.

PC Deborah Lawson said she believes her colleague saved her life during the incident in Glasgow.

Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh heard she suffered a fractured shoulder blade, three fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

David McLean, 31, and Ryan Gilmour, 25, both of Glasgow, deny the attempted murder of PCs Lawson and Robert Fitzsimmons by striking them repeatedly with a car in the city’s Banner Drive on October 23 last year.

PC Lawson, 31, told the court she and her colleague were called to a report of someone being chased on Banner Drive at about 11.15pm. When they got there, she saw a dark 4x4 with its headlights on.

The officers approached the driver on foot after he opened the car door.

PC Lawson said when the driver moved to shut the car door, she tried to take hold of his arm and he began struggling with her.

At this point, she noticed a second man in the back seat, leaning forward and trying to reach the gear stick.

She told the court: “I could hear him shouting ‘drive’ several times.”

PC Lawson said “the car started reversing back at speed”, adding: “The next memory is looking down at my feet and they were being dragged along the ground.”

She told how she screamed “stop the car” before hitting the ground, ending up with her head “literally right next to” one of the front wheels.

Prosecutor Tim NivenSmith asked how she felt at this point. She replied: “I thought I was going to die.”

PC Lawson, who remains off work, added: “I was in agony. I just remember a crunching sound when I went down … I couldn’t breathe properly.”

Describing the moments before the car sped off, she said: “PC Fitzsimmons grabbed me out the way. If he didn’t move me, I wouldn’t be here today.”

The trial continues.