Terrifying moment violent thieves smash car windscreen with hammers after Stoke Newington chase

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This is the terrifying moment violent thieves smash a windscreen with hammers after a dramatic five-mile car chase through east London.

The shocking dashcam footage shows the men, who had stolen thousands of pounds worth of audio equipment, jump out of a white van and repeatedly smash the front window of the car.

Victim David Grunfeld, who stayed on the phone to the police as he pursued the thieves in his vehicle, shouts in terror as the men rush back to their van and speed off.

Mr Grunfeld, who works for DG Sound delivering and setting up speakers, said the chase started in Lordship Road in Stoke Newington when he was parking his car near the van, which had earlier been filled with equipment.

One of the men who attacked Mr Grunfeld's car

The incident happened just over a month after £10,000 of equipment had been stolen from Mr Grunfeld’s van in the same area.

The 24-year-old told the Standard: “I had an event so I picked up quite a few things from the warehouse, speakers, and went shopping for half an hour.

“When I came back I saw something fishy going on. There were two speaker stands leaning on my van.

“I thought to myself that's not usual, this is not supposed to be there.

“I wanted to park there with my own car and I see two people jumping into a van pressing down the gas and quickly fled from the scene.

A second man who was involved in the incident

“Then I made my decision that I'm going to chase after these two thieves so I quickly pressed down my gas pedal.

“I chased after them. They did not care, cars were coming and people were crossing the roads, they drove like crazy.”

Mr Grunfeld said the van went through red lights on Seven Sisters Road but he managed to keep it in his sights.

It screeched to a halt after it had turned into Vartry Road in Stamford Hill.

David Grunfeld said the attack was "horrible"

He added: “Then they came to a situation where a car blocked them, so they jumped out the van with hammers and ran towards my car and started smashing my windscreen so that I wouldn’t be able to see them anymore.

“I felt horrible, like they wanted to murder me.”

A spokesman for the Met Police said: “Police were called at Friday, March 10 at around 10.30am to Lordship Road to reports of a theft from a motor vehicle.

“The victim disturbed the theft as it was in progress and pursued the suspects in his vehicle.

“At Vartry Road the pursuit ended. The vehicles stopped and the suspects got out of their vehicle - a white Ford Transit van - and damaged the windscreen of the victim's car before leaving the scene.

“A number of items of electronic equipment was stolen.

“The suspects are both described as being white men, aged 30-35, and around 6ft tall.

“There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.”

If you have any information about this incident, call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you would prefer not to give your name.

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