The police vehicle was forced to be recovered from the scene
A police officer has suffered serious injuries following a ramming incident in Co Down.
The PSNI received reports of a vehicle driving erratically in the Dublin Road area of Newry at approximately 2am on May 21.
Police discovered the vehicle around an hour later before the marked patrol car was rammed by the suspect.
An officer sustained fractured vertebrae while the police vehicle suffered “significant damage” and had to be recovered from the scene.
A teenage boy who was arrested as a result for a string of driving-related offences is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
Local Inspector Jonathan Ritchie said “Officers were alerted to a vehicle driving erratically in the Dublin Road area around 2:00am. Roughly, an hour later, the vehicle was located and subsequently rammed the responding police vehicle.
“An officer has sustained fractured vertebrae as a result of this which is going to take a substantial amount of time and support to recover from.
“This vehicle was, in effect, used as a weapon against officers. It is unacceptable that those working to keep their community safe should be targeted in this way.
“The police vehicle sustained such significant damage that it had to be recovered from the scene and will now be off the road for repairs, which impacts on the local community.
“The actions of the driver responsible must be condemned, this is completely unacceptable and members of the public could have also been injured during this completely reckless and dangerous incident.
“We are lucky that we are not dealing with any fatalities as a result of this.
“A teenage boy, who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of a number of driving-related offences was charged to appear in court on Wednesday.”