A Devizes police officer is likely to be off work for some weeks after his arm was broken during an incident in the early hours of Friday.

Officers were called to an address in Victoria Road at 2.45am on Friday on reports of an assault. The suspect had left the scene but his car was later found on Roundway Hill.

But when the driver was approached shortly after 4am, he drove off with the policeman’s arm trapped inside the car. The officer was taken to hospital and was diagnosed with a broken humerus.

The suspect, a 40-year-old man from Victoria Road, voluntarily gave himself up to police the following day at Melksham Police Station, where he was arrested on suspicion of possession of a weapon for the emission of an obnoxious liquid or gas, assaulting a police officer in the course of his duty, failure to provide a specimen, failure to stop when requested and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He has been bailed until a date in August.

The police officer, who has not been named, is recovering at home but is likely to be off work for at least two months.