A POLICE officer suffered a nasty eye injury after his car was rammed by suspected burglars.
Two police cars responded to reports of a burglary at premises on the Armytage Road Industrial Estate in Brighouse yesterday afternoon.
As the two police cars approached, a white Ford Transit van sped off in reverse, smashing into both vehicles.
The collision happened in Wakefield Road, near the Subway takeaway store, just before 2pm.
Firefighters and ambulance crews were also sent to the scene.
Three police officers were hurt, with one of them believed to have suffered an eye injury caused by a shard of glass.
It is believed the three police officers were taken to Calderdale Royal Hospital at Halifax for treatment.
Two men from the van are thought to have suffered minor injuries and were also taken to hospital.
The two men were subsequently arrested on suspicion of burglary and dangerous driving.
Firefighters were called when smoke was seen rising from one of the damaged vehicles.
Elland Fire Station watch commander Andy Marshall, who attended the scene, said the ‘smoke’ turned out to be leaking coolant.
He said that while the two men from the van were being attended to by paramedics, firefighters helped the police officer with the eye injury, washing his eyeball with saline solution.
“He had a suspected scratch to his eye, which was already very swollen,” said Mr Marshall. “He had both eyes bandaged before he was taken to hospital.”
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that officers were called to Armytage Road Industrial Estate at 1.46pm to reports of an on-going burglary.
“Officers attended and a Ford Transit van failed to stop and collided with two police vehicles,” he said. Three officers suffered minor injuries and two men from the van were arrested on suspicion of burglary and dangerous driving.
