Lamped! Rude Dudley yob comes a cropper on camera
A rude yob was left red-faced after he directed abusive hand gestures at a CCTV camera in the Black Country – and then walked straight into a lamp-post.
The man was in Dudley High Street when he spotted the camera and began aiming insults towards the lens.
But while he was focusing on abusing the camera operator, he didn't notice a lamp-post in his path and seconds later he slammed straight into it. Sgt Rob Simpson, from Dudley Police Station, today described it as "swift divine intervention".
He said: "Camera operators are here with the sole aim of keeping our communities safe and monitoring suspicious behaviour they don't deserve abuse. We have 177 CCTV cameras across the borough of Dudley; many, like this one. They are all overt, none are hidden, but at the same time they are not intrusive.
"The vast, vast majority of people go about their daily business oblivious of the cameras. It is only people who are concerned about their behaviour or up to no good that seem to be conscious of them."
It is not known if the man in the footage was injured. He strikes the post with his forehead and eye before walking on.
Recently CCTV cameras picked up footage of a break-in at Dudley bus depot. Officers quickly arrested a man on suspicion of burglary and also alerted police to a suspicious man at a disorder who was later found with a knuckleduster.
Gillian Davenport, Partnerships Inspector at Dudley Police, said: "I'm in no doubt CCTV cameras are making a significant contribution towards reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in Dudley."
