High-speed car chase ends down by the riverside

END OF THE ROAD: The chase came to an end near the River Cole, off
Forth Drive. Picture by @trafficwmp

AN EARLY morning police chase - which saw cars tearing through the streets of North Solihull - ended with a suspect trying to escape across a freezing river.
The 15 minute pursuit of a suspected stolen vehicle - sighted in Shard End - yesterday morning  (Friday) had passed through Marston Green and Chelmsley Wood.
Alarmed pedestrians - some of whom were parents on the school run - reported seeing patrol cars racing after a vehicle, with a helicopter following overhead.
Photos posted on social media revealed that a police car had apparently knocked over a postbox at Whateley Green, Castle Bromwich, during the chase.
A stinger device was finally used to bring the car to a sharp stop in the Forth Drive area. The suspect had attempted to escape across the nearby River Cole, but a police sergeant was waiting on the other side of the watercourse.
West Midlands Police confirmed that a 38-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of car theft. The car, understood to be a Fiesta, was later towed away from the riverside by one of the force's 4x4s.