This is the moment a drug dealer who was stopped by police after a 135mph chase manages to escape and drive off – while officers are still clinging to his door.
John Eddy, 30, was pulled over on the A66 just before 1.50am on January 1 last year after speeding down the dual carriageway in his Mercedes.
However dashcam footage played at Teesside Crown Court before he was jailed for eight years and six months shows his brazen escape.
Video shows the police car in pursuit of Eddy and hitting speeds of 135mph as they drive along an empty road early on New Year’s Day 2019.
After a couple of minutes the officers manage to pull Eddy over and he is seen walking towards the dashcam.
However by 1.56am Eddy has made his way back to the car and as the officers move to apprehend him again, he jumps into the drivers’ seat.
The two officers pull on the driver’s door, managing to open it slightly, but after a few seconds they have to release their grip as Eddy has started to pull away.
Police dashcam footage shows the moment drug dealer John Eddy, 30, who was stopped by police in Teeside, managed to escape and drive off with the officers holding onto his car door
The officers followed Eddy’s car along the motorway, reaching speeds of 135mph before he pulled over
Speaking during the case, prosecutor Stephen McNally said: ‘The officer tried to get to that vehicle by driving up to 135mph, without making significant ground.
‘Ultimately they make that ground up and stop the vehicle. The Mercedes brake lights can only just be seen in the far distance.’
Eddy was later arrested and interviewed, where he said he had two gins at a friend’s house in Middlesbrough with his girlfriend.
He said he did not believe he was over the limit, thought it was a 70mph road and thought he went at 80 or 90mph.
He owned up to the escape but said he did not intend to assault anyone. Eddy later admitted dangerous driving, escape and assaulting an emergency worker causing minor injuries.
He also faced sentence for being a courier in the north-east part of a multi-million-pound drugs enterprise directed from abroad.
At first Eddy (pictured behind the officer) walks over to the patrol car
However he manages to escape from the officers and runs back to his driver’s side door
After Eddy has driven away the two officers run towards the patrol car and use their radios
He and four others – Emma Newton, Stephen Harland, Louis Lyons and Daryl Small – who trafficked drugs dropped into the UK by helicopter were jailed for a total of 41 years on Friday.
One consignment alone netted a 103kg haul of heroin and cocaine, worth more than £10m, delivered to the south of England via helicopter from Belgium.
Judge Howard Crowson said the business imported drugs – mainly high-purity cocaine – from Europe and into the north-west and north-east for major profit.
He said: ‘It is clear that cocaine and other drugs were brought to the north-east to be used in a Class A drugs supply business operating locally. You all had a role in that business.
Eddy (pictured) has now been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for the driving incident and his part in a drug dealing business
‘I’m satisfied the police only intercepted a small fraction of the drugs actually trafficked,’ Judge Crowson added.
‘It’s clear that many kilos of drugs travelled across the Pennines. I cannot quantify the amount of cocaine. There were well over 100 visits to this area by couriers.’
Mr McNally said ‘staggering’ quantities of Class A drugs were imported from the continent via chartered helicopter flights which deviated off radar.
Some of the narcotics were bound for the north-east in a drugs ring organised from ‘exotic’ overseas locations.
The Teesside defendants – identified in ‘Operation Spoonbill’ – were not accused of being involved in the air delivery of the ‘extraordinarily valuable cargo’.
But they were to help sell some of the drugs in this area in a ‘sophisticated and well-organised operation’ in 2015 to 2016.
Eddy and four others – including Emma Newton (left) and Louis Lyons (right) – who trafficked drugs dropped into the UK by helicopter were jailed for a total of 41 years
Eddy denied conspiring to supply Class A drugs and was unanimously convicted by a jury last December.
The judge said he gave ‘almost catastrophic’ evidence in which the jury laughed at his ‘unbelievable’ answers, saying: ‘I’m not in the thick of it.’
His barrister Peter Sabiston said: ‘He didn’t present himself as particularly sophisticated throughout any of the proceedings in this case. And perhaps I’ll leave it there… This was not a sophisticated individual.’
Judge Howard Crowson jailed Eddy for eight-and-a-half years – eight years for the drug dealing plus six months for the driving escapade.
Eddy, from Norton in Stockton-on-Tees, will also be banned from driving for 18 months after his release from prison and was ordered to pay £120 compensation.