Shocking footage shows the moment a man douses eight police officers in petrol, leaving two hospitalised.
Justin Jackson, 28, of Ward Close, Basildon, was pursued by officers after dangerously speeding a motorbike in pedestrian areas.
The motorbike performed wheelies, rode across pedestrian areas and travelled the wrong way up roads, almost colliding with a car.
Bodycam released by Essex Police shows Jackson drenching the officers with a watering can full of petrol.
Two officers needed urgent care after digesting the noxious liquid.
Six other officers were treated at the scene for burns and having petrol in their eyes.
Jackson was arrested after fleeing to his home nearby to change his clothes.
Despite the horrendous attack, all eight officers were back on the duty the same day.
Superintendent Jonathan Baldwin, who was one of the eight victims that day, said: “The events of that day will always remain with me.
“I know when I speak on behalf of the other seven officers who found themselves being doused in petrol by Jackson that it will stay with us for a long time.
”It’s not the physical effects of feeling the burning on your arm, the stinging in your eyes – that all passes fairly quickly – it’s the fact now that every time I attend an operational incident there is the thought in the back of my mind that takes me back to that moment when somebody shouted “petrol, petrol, petrol!”
“What makes me most proud is that none of the officers covered in petrol and taken to hospital took any time off sick. They came back to work with fortitude, conviction and dedication because they don’t just do the job for themselves, they do the job for the public.”
Chief Constable Ben-Julian (BJ) Harrington said: “The officers were out protecting the public doing their duty. Their response, their restraint and their bravery was first class.
“Officers know that they will have to face danger and confrontation, but this does not mean it is acceptable.”
Justin Jackson, 28, of Ward Close, Basildon, received three years and nine months for eight counts of administering a noxious substance with intent to injury, aggrieve or annoy at Basildon Crown Court on, Thursday November 7.
A 17-year-old from Basildon was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Friday August 16 for driving a motor vehicle dangerously. He was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined.
Janine Justin, 47, of Ward Close, Basildon, was found guilty of possession of an offensive weapon at Basildon Crown Court and received nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
She was fined £140 and was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work.
