Cop pushed into traffic by Romanian Big Issue vendor

A Romanian Big Issue vendor who pushed a police officer out of a moving car towards oncoming traffic has been jailed for 18 weeks.

Ludovic Mihai, 24, was selling copies of the magazine at a sports bar in Marylebone station when PC Steven Cooper noticed he was behaving suspiciously next to drinkers.

Mihai left the bar and got in the rear passenger seat of a silver Toyota Prius parked outside.

As he got in he realised he was being watched by PC Steven Cooper, who followed him to the car and tried to open the door to grab him.

Mihai shouted at the driver to ‘go, go, go’, as PC Cooper lent in, but the officer was dragged along the street.

PC Cooper was then pushed into the road by the Romanian in front of oncoming traffic.

The officer was left with cuts, scrapes, a torn ligament and a ‘heart shaped burn’ on his knee, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

Komal Varsani, prosecuting, said: ‘At Marylebone station at 6.30pm on January 24, PC Cooper noticed a male enter who was paying attention to people’s table tops at a sports bar and he also had Big Issue magazines.

‘The male approached a silver Prius, went to the front of the door to open it, looked around and saw PC cooper.

‘PC Cooper saw the defendant in the rear passenger seat, opened the door and tried to grab the defendant.

‘The defendant shouted ‘go, go, go’ and the car began to drive. PC Cooper fell into the car. His feet were being dragged on the ground and the defendant was fighting him out.

‘He fell into oncoming traffic and rolled two to three times.

‘He suffered a torn ligament, damage to his right wrist, cuts, abrasions, scrapes on his chest and a heart-shaped burn on left knee.’

Heather Labanya, defending, told the court Mihai ‘didn’t realise he was an officer and panicked and pushed him out’.

She said: ‘He saw a male open the car door very quickly. Mr Mihai says it all happened so quickly, he didn’t realise he was an officer and panicked and pushed him out. He has instructed me he is very sorry about the incident. Had he realised it was an officer he would have stopped.

‘He has been in the UK since 2009. He worked at a car wash for a number of years.’

Jailing Mihai for 18 weeks Magistrate Nina Toller said: ‘It was an assault on a police officer who had made himself known to you and suffered serious injuries.’

Mihai, of Mallards Road, Barking, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

He gave relatives a thumbs-up as he was led from the dock.