Police smashed a car windscreen and sprayed the driver with CS gas after he rammed a patrol vehicle and threatened to knock down an officer.

Mark Norman, 47, hit a disabled man’s parked car during a late-night chase on January 6 and Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that it was “a cry for help”.

Norman, of Brooksbank Avenue, Scholemoor, Bradford, was suffering mental health difficulties at the time, his solicitor advocate Anne-Marie Hutton said.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, possession of small amounts of cannabis and amphetamine and failing to provide a specimen of breath at Trafalgar House Police Station.

Prosecutor Angus MacDonald said a tip-off led police to Norman’s Fiat car parked on Clayton Road, Bradford, at 11pm. He sped off along Springfield Road, where he turned off his lights. He backed into a police vehicle on Brooksbank Avenue and accelerated on to Walker Avenue.

Norman then reversed towards an officer on foot who smashed the driver’s door window with his baton.

He then struck a disabled man’s car.

Miss Hutton said he was desperate for help.

He was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with supervision and a four month curfew order.

Norman was banned from driving for three years and must take an extended retest.