Dramatic footage shows the moment a suspected car thief gave himself up to cops after a 100mph chase – because he was scared of being bitten by a police dog.
Richard Howard, 28, was spotted behind the wheel of a silver Peugeot being driven erratically through Coventry in the early hours of February 5.
A police patrol suspected the car was linked to a spate of high value thefts and set off in pursuit.
Police bodycam footage shows Howard speed through narrow residential streets before being caught by police.
The video shows Howard leap out of the car with his hands up begging cops to keep the police dog – called Gunner - on a lead.
He later told cops: “I didn’t want to risk being bitten by your dog.”
Howard, of Binley, Coventry, was jailed for 18 months after he admitted dangerous driving and driving while disqualified at Warwick Crown Court.
Sergeant John Simpson, of West Midlands Police, who chased Howard, said: “Our amazing police dogs’ reputation obviously precedes them: they don’t even need to get out of the car for them to have a big impact.
“In fairness to Howard it was a very sensible decision to pull over.
“He’d been flying over speed humps at close to 100 miles per hour and, although it was the middle of the night and the roads were largely empty, it was very dangerous and could have ended with him or someone else being seriously hurt.
“And if he had tried to outrun Gunner there would only ever have been one winner.”
Police suspected Howard and another man – who’d been dropped off earlier in the night – were scoping out high value cars to steal.
Last year a heroic police dog was stabbed five time in the head while subduing a knifeman in the line of duty.
Brave Kaiser was "lucky to be alive" after the horror attack in south London on in June, the Met said.
He and handler PC Mark Woolcott were on patrol when they were called to an intruder alert in Orpington at around 11pm.
They responded along with other officers before finding a man down a track behind the house, the force said.
Kaiser then attempted to subdue the man, who stabbed him up to five times on top of his head and once below the eye.
