Terrified police Tasered 'zombie' attacker who hacked their van's windscreen with cheese knife

Police were left terrified after a drunken and drugged-up troublemaker "looking like something out of a zombie film" started "hacking" at their van's windscreen with a knife. The attacker had a Taser fired at him and the confrontation was the most frightening incident that an officer had suffered in 12 years, a court heard. Mitchell Bias, 23, of Ashby, Scunthorpe, admitted affray, possessing an offensive weapon and causing criminal damage on June 1.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that police in Scunthorpe, spotted Bias acting strangely while intoxicated in the early hours. He was seen slumped over a path near a junction and told police: "I need help. I have had legal highs." His speech was slurred and he started to crawl along the ground towards the police car. An officer described him as "looking like something out of a zombie film" and his "eyes were rolled back in his head". He was hiding between cars and sprinting up to a police vehicle while "stalking" the police in a "game of cat and mouse" and had a cheese knife with him.



He jumped on the bonnet and hacked at the windscreen continuously with the knife. An officer got out of the van and fired a Taser at him, causing him to fall to the ground. The knife fell from his grasp. The officer later said: "I could see the knife coming towards my face repeatedly. I didn't want to get out of the van. I felt physically trapped." It was the worst experience he had suffered in 12 years as a policeman, said Mr Evans. Nicola Hornby, mitigating, said Bias was immediately remorseful. The police must have been terrified and he was shocked and surprised about the way he behaved.

Bias claimed he could not remember the incident because he had taken a mixture of alcohol and legal highs. "It clearly was an incredibly unpleasant incident," she said. Judge Simon Jack told Bias: "These are very serious offences. That incident must have been very frightening, even for seasoned police officers. The sight of a man attacking a police vehicle with a weapon, presumably with the apparent intention of harming anybody who was inside the vehicle, must have been very frightening indeed." Bias was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence, 20 days rehabilitation, a six-month 8pm to 8am curfew and was ordered to pay a £900 court charge.