Police officer tells trial of man accused of trying to murder him he 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 Thurs yesterday, 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 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 rev
ving 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 hospital, where doctors found a fourto five-centimetre laceration to his scalp that required six stitches, 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. 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.
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.