Man sectioned after armed police arrest outside Ukrainian embassy
Police say man who drove car directly at officers has been held under the Mental Health Act after officers arrested him.
Sunday 14 April 2019 17:14, UK
A man arrested after a car was driven at police outside the Ukrainian embassy in west London has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Armed police rushed to the embassy on Saturday after the Ukranian ambassador's car was "repeatedly rammed".
They opened fire when the car was driven directly at police officers, and a man in his 40s was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after officers used a Taser to detain him.
The man was not injured but was taken to hospital as a precaution. He is now in custody at a central London police station.
Chief superintendent Andy Walker said: "As is standard procedure, an investigation is now ongoing into the discharge of a police firearm during this incident.
"While this takes place, I would like to pay tribute to the officers involved in this incident who responded this morning and put themselves in harm's way as they do every day to keep the people of London safe."
Onlookers described seeing officers armed with sub-machine guns and a suspect being "wrestled" to the ground.
The ambassador, Natalia Galibarenko, was not at the embassy at the time and no other staff were injured.
Police said the incident is not being treated as terror-related.
A neighbour who witnessed the arrest believes the suspect reversed into the ambassador's car while backing away from an oncoming police car.
Emma Slatter said: "It seems like he was moving erratically or wanting to move away from being boxed in, maybe not realising there were police behind him as well.
"That was when he collided backwards. I think I heard about half a dozen shots."
Heather Feiner, a mother-of-two, originally from the US, said: "My kids were hanging out in the living room. They said, 'Mum, is that firecrackers?'
"I saw all this police activity. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on?'"
She added that there were four marked police cars outside by the time she reached her ground floor window.
"From the time I heard the shots until I got to the window, which took about 15 seconds, all these police cars were already there," she said.
"I'm wondering if they were already trying to stop this person.
"I could see a police officer that fired the shots. I could see them pointing their gun at the car."