Christmas Day drug driver who fled police found hiding in the dark

Michal Perczak was under the influence of alcohol and cannabis during the pursuit around the town centre at about 2am on Christmas morning last year.

Police were alerted to Perczak’s erratic driving by CCTV operators. Officers in a marked police vehicle caught up with Perczak’s Volkswagen Passat in George Street and indicated for him to stop.

Ignoring this, he continued to drive with the police car behind him towards Huntingdon Police Station, turning into Ermine Street and then St Peter’s Road where he drove 20mph over the speed limit.

He continued with his erratic driving, failing to stop for a red traffic light, driving at 80mph in a 40mph zone and driving the wrong way round a roundabout before abandoning his vehicle in Essex Road.

Officers searched the area and eventually found Perczak in an open grassy area, hiding in the dark.

He was arrested and made to take roadside breath and drug tests which showed he was over the legal drink drive limit and also under the influence of cannabis. He was taken to Thorpe Wood Police Station in Peterborough where he refused to provide a blood sample for forensic examination, saying he was scared of needles.

At Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday (July 30) Perczak pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to 36 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

PC Jon Yaxley, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Road Policing Unit, said: “Perczak led us on a pursuit which not only put himself in danger, but us and the public. Drink driving and drug driving risks lives and is something we will not tolerate.”

Anyone with information about dangerous driving is urged to contact police either online at www.cambs.police.uk/report or call 101.