Cop borrows teen’s bike to chase down thief

By Nathan Pynn

This is the dramatic moment an armed cop borrowed a teenager’s bicycle to chase after a prolific thief.

The officer was running after shoplifter Phillip Padgett after he was spotted stealing steaks from a supermarket.

Bodycam footage shows the cop struggling to keep up with the 32-year-old crook as he fled through an estate in South Shields, in Tyneside.

Armed cops scrambled to the scene on June 7 after receiving reports of a man acting aggressively at a supermarket on Stanhope Road.

As the thief appeared to be getting away, the officer quickly stopped a teenage boy who was riding past.

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He tells the lad: “Give us your bike, I’m chasing a thief. I’ll be two minutes.”

The boy replies: “Two minutes? Okay.”

Footage shows the cop cycle after Padgett who had earlier thrown three stolen steaks into a hedge.

He was caught minutes later and bodycam shows him being handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car.

Padgett, of no fixed address, admitted more than 30 counts of shoplifting with a total value of almost $6,000.

He was jailed for 40 weeks at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court.