Two people were arrested last night after a senior off-duty police officer tackled a suspected shoplifter at a Mansfield supermarket.
The officer was inside the Tesco Express branch in Nottingham Road shortly before 9.20pm when a man attempted to steal goods from inside.
After chasing a suspect from the scene he was threatened with a metal bar by two other people in a waiting car.
After a brief struggle, the suspects fled the scene and the car drove away, but not before the officer had made a note of their number plate.
Two people were arrested shortly afterwards when the car was spotted returning to the petrol station forecourt on Nottingham Road.
Two officers sustained minor injuries during the incident.
A 42-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of theft, dangerous driving and affray. They remain in police custody. A third suspect remains at large.
Superintendent Kevin Broadhead, county commander at Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I had gone in to buy some petrol and left my car on the forecourt. As a police officer you are never really off duty so when I saw somebody I suspected to be stealing goods I immediately chased after them.
“But in the end I was only one part of a wider team of response officers who arrived so rapidly on the scene. Ultimately it was their skill and professionalism that brought this incident to a safe conclusion.”
Anyone who witnessed this incident is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident 859 of 13 August.
