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Driver dials 999 during Newcastle police chase and says “abort or I’ll drive off bridge”

The call handler tells Birch to pull over but he refuses, accelerating the vehicle and ending the call

Newsroom August 4 12:10

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A dangerous driver who rang 999 during a police pursuit and ordered the officers to stop following him could be facing jail.

Samuel Birch, 30, admitted a string of driving offences linked to the police chase in Newcastle on 29 March this year.

In footage, Birch is heard telling call handlers he had a “minor” in his silver Vauxhall Corsa and would drive off a bridge if they didn’t “abort the chase now”.

He was also seeing driving on the wrong side of the road, ignoring red lights and holding his phone out of the window, which officers said was a tactic to record the pursuit.

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The call handler tells Birch to pull over but he refuses, accelerating the vehicle and ending the call.

Birch was stopped moments later outside St James’ Park, where officers found that there was no child with him, as he claimed.

Read more: Sky News

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