VIDEO footage has been released showing the moment a police dog chased down a man as he tried fleeing from cops.

PD Pancho and handler PC Dan Benton were called to Gracewell Road, Birmingham, this morning (July 19) at around 1am after a man bolted from a car which had earlier failed to stop for a traffic patrol unit.

It was pursued for 10 minutes as it drove the wrong way down one-way streets and jumped red lights – but it ground to a halt when West Midlands Police ‘stung’ its tyres.

The driver attempted to flee but PD Pancho pounced and pinned the man down before he was arrested, with the dramatic incident captured on the thermal imaging camera aboard the police helicopter.

Pancho’s handler, PC Benton, said: “It was pitch black and there were loads of bushes for the suspect to hide in, but that didn’t stop Pancho. She was straight on the scent and managed to quickly detain the man.”

The two-year-old Belgian Malinois is poignantly named after one of the force's former detectives, DC Andrew Taylor who was known as Pancho, who passed away in 2018.

A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and driving under the influence of drugs.