Police car crashes into Norton war memorial

A police car on an emergency call ended up crashing into a village war memorial after hitting another vehicle.

The marked car crashed with a Mini Clubman on Ixworth Road in Norton, Suffolk, at about 13:10 BST.

The driver of the Mini suffered a wrist injury and officers had minor bruising.

Norton Parish Council chairman Andy Burt said he heard sirens before he saw the police car "ramping up the war memorial after hearing an enormous screeching sound".

Mr Burt, 35, said the memorial was "probably the most prominent point" in the village and was "probably even more prominent now because it's got a police car sat on top of it".

The parish council spent about £2,000 last year restoring the memorial in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.

"We weren't expecting to adorn it with a police response vehicle," Mr Burt said.

He said it now needed "significant repair work" but they would "do everything we can to get it restored in time" for the anniversary in November.

BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Stephanie Mackentyre said: "The police car was quite badly damaged.

"One of its wheels had come off. There was a small car to our left. There was an ambulance on scene. We couldn't see if anyone was injured."

Police said minor damage was also caused to a stationary Audi A6 and an investigation into the cause of the crash was under way.