Gosport police officer thanks young boy for lending his bike in police chase

  • The moment a Hampshire police officer was caught chasing down a suspect on a child's bike

A police officer wants to thank a young boy who let her borrow his bike to chase down a suspect.

PC Harriett Taylor, from Hampshire Police, was responding to reports of a theft in Gosport on Friday evening when she spotted the boy watching them.

She said: "I ran up to him and said 'Can I borrow your bike please?' And he was like 'Yeah, absolutely!' He gave it to me no questions asked.

"I stood on it and immediately thought ‘Oh no, this is too small but I’ve committed now so I’ve got to do it!'

"I just saw an opportunity to get a suspect quicker and took it. It helped me get to where I needed to go."

Police officer borrows child's bike to catch suspected shoplifter

PC Taylor managed to catch up with the man. He was arrested on suspicion of theft, burglary and shoplifting.

Afterwards, she found the boy and returned his bike to him.

She said: "I’ve never borrowed any form of transport before but I saw the opportunity and thought why not?

"His mum was very happy that he’d been so polite to us.

"I hope he’s famous at school. I hope everyone’s like 'Oh, you gave your bike to that copper!'

"I just want to thank the little boy for being so polite."

Gosport Police posted about the incident on social media, saying it was a "brilliant joint-effort from everyone involved".

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