Police car (PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)A Met Police officer who crashed into other cars and a garden wall while responding to the Streatham terror attack has denied dangerous driving.
PC Paul Fisher, a specialist firearms officer, has been charged with a criminal offence over the February 2020 incident, when he was called out to reports of a knife attack on members of the public.
He was among the response to Sudesh Amman, a 20-year-old Islamic extremist who was ultimately shot dead by armed officers while wearing a fake suicide in Streatham High Road.
Fisher, from Whyteleafe in Surrey, appeared in the dock at Westminster magistrates court to face the dangerous driving charge for the first time on Monday.
The court heard he is accused of driving at speeds of up to 90mph on his journey from Gipsy Hill station to the scene of the attack, as well as allegedly driving towards traffic on the wrong side of the road and narrowly missing a series of vehicles.
Prosecutor Alejandra Tascon said Fisher’s unmarked police car eventually struck two other vehicles and “smashed into a residential property, narrowly missing a pedestrian”, on Streatham Common North, in Streatham, south-west London, on February 2 2020.
It is said the drivers of the other two vehicles lost consciousness after the collisions.
“The Crown say the combination of high speeds and failure to anticipate the road and road users ahead, after already having had a number of near-misses, fell well below the standards of a reasonably competent and careful driver”, said Ms Tascon.
Fisher indicated a not guilty plea to the charge and asked for his trial to take place before judge and jury.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring adjourned the case for a hearing at Isleworth crown court on September 19.
Fisher, who is attached to the Metropolitan Police Specialist Firearms Command, was freed on unconditional bail.
