A police officer was dragged along a street for up to 30 metres by a taxi involved in a drugs surveillance operation, Dundee Sheriff Court has heard.
Sergeant Robert Prudham, 41, said he had tried to open the taxi door when the driver sped off, dragging him along until he managed to free his hand from the door handle.
He said the driver, Maurice Fraser, had seen him as he walked towards the taxi with his hand held up to stop it, saying he had shouted “police” repeatedly as he approached the vehicle.
He told the court he was part of a surveillance operation watching the movements of Jamie Duncan, who was suspected of picking up drugs from a “safe house” on Lochee High Street.
They saw Duncan get into a taxi and moved in to arrest him.
Sgt Prudham told the court: “The driver looked at me and took off with my hand still in the door handle. I was dragged along the street for about 20-30 metres.
“I eventually freed my hand and fell to the ground and narrowly missed the wheels. It’s not the actions I would expect from a taxi driver,” he added.
He told the court he did not see Mr Fraser being detained by DC Russell Gillespie and had not seen any physical contact between them.
In his own evidence, Gillespie was accused by depute fiscal Beverley Adam of striking a man three times on the head and once on the hand with a baton, kicking another man in the groin and punching others in the face.
He denied all of that, saying he had kicked the man in the back of the legs to bring him to the ground.
In another incident, police were trying to arrest William Forbes, who alleges he was punched in the face in the back of a car.
Gillespie insisted Mr Forbes obtained a bleeding nose during a struggle.
Gillespie denies seven charges, including assaulting suspects, and breach of the peace, dating to 2010, across Dundee and Angus.
The trial continues.