A POLICE officer got a shock as he fired his taser stun gun at a careless Birmingham motorist who fell and damaged the weapon causing it to ‘backfire’.

Criminal driver Andrew Scroggie, of Old Moat Way, Ward End, managed to escape as a result.

But the 43-year-old was arrested two months later in the Bullring. He pleaded guilty to careless driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance at Warwick Crown Court.

He was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months, ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.

Prosecutor James Dunstan said Pc Liam Ryan tasered Scroggie as he climbed over a wall after the officer warned him to stop in Leamington on May 20 last year.

The officer was in pursuit of Scroggie whose van had triggered the number plate recognition system.