A property developer has told how a disgruntled employee smashed a pickaxe into the bonnet of his Range Rover as he tried to escape during a terrifying attack.
Armed police were called to a building site in Calder Road, Lower Hopton, at around 9.30am on Wednesday after reports of a man wielding a weapon.
Just minutes earlier the attacker had been spotted shouting and swearing and witnesses told how he allegedly threatened his boss with a hammer forcing him – and others on the building site – to rush to the white Range Rover for safety.
But when he tried to drive away, the worker armed himself with the pickaxe and raised it to strike the windscreen but instead smashed it into the bonnet, leaving it embedded.
Fortunately no-one was injured and a man was subsequently arrested.
The developer, who did not want to be named, said: “He’s gone in a van and got a hammer and then he’s come for me.
“But my son tried to talk him down, and he ended up hitting him in the face, so he’s gone to the floor and so has the hammer.
“I shouted to my two sons and another woman who works for me: ‘Get in the car’.
“He’s then gone in a van and rummaged and pulled a pick-axe out.
“I was going to pull away but if I’d carried on driving forwards, he would have hit the windscreen so I started to reverse and he hit the bonnet.
“I was scared, the pick axe could do a lot of damage.
“I drove out of the yard and the pick-axe was still embedded in the bonnet.
“He just acted as if nothing had happened. His car was in front of the Range Rover but he didn’t get in it.”
Meanwhile others on the site – a derelict building being converted into apartments near Healy’s fish and chip shop – saw what was happening and phoned police.
Armed police closed the road to contain the scene until it could be established what had happened.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “We were called to Calder Road at 9.30am to reports of a man in possession of a weapon. Officers attended and found a male in possession of a pickaxe.
“A parked vehicle has been damaged in the incident. A man has been arrested on suspicion of being in possession of an offensive weapon, affray and causing damage to a motor vehicle.”
