A TERRIFIED woman was forced out of her car by a man on the run after assaulting a police officer.

The woman was driving along Bradford Street, the Haulgh, in her green Ford Puma when the man suddenly ran up to her car and opened her door.

He ordered the woman out and then pushed her away as he jumped into the drivers' seat and sped away.

The woman, who lives in Droylsden, Manchester, was unhurt but was left shaken by her ordeal.

Detectives were today still hunting the man. The Puma, registration W918 ODB, has not been found.

The drama began just after noon yesterday when a plain clothes officer stopped a young Asian man who was driving a black VW Golf in Dorset Street.

The vehicle had been spotted near the scene of a recent armed robbery in Birmingham.

When the police officer attempted to speak to the driver, ther man got out of the car and attacked him. The officer was kicked and punched several times and ended up on the ground.

The man then fled and is believed to have run into the back yard of a house in Bradford Street, entered the the back door and ran through the house and out of the front door. He then stopped the woman's car on the road outside.

Within minutes, police reinforcements arrived including firearms officers and the Greater Manchester Police force helicopter hovered overhead. Roads were sealed but the wanted man still managed to escape.

One woman bystander said: "There were police everywhere."

Officers also spent nearly an hour searching two houses on Bradford Street and later took away the abandoned N registered Golf on a transporter.

The policeman attacked in the incident suffered a bruised eye and cuts to his face.

Chief Supt Don Brown, head of Bolton Police, said: "The police officer did his best trying to arrest this man but was subjected to a violent and sustained attack. Unfortunately the man managed to escape.

"The woman motorist was obviously terrified for her safety and one can only imagine how she must have felt.

"I can assure her, the police officer and the public that we will be relentless in our pursuit of this man."

The man is described as 6ft 2ins, and in his early 20s. He had a dark scarf covering his face. He is know locally as Mo.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Bolton CID on 0161 856 5640 or Crimestoppers on free phone 0800 555 111.