Police had to use batons and CS gas to overpower a violent burglar after he went on a raid carrying an axe, a court was told.
Wanted man Ian Martin, 25, from Grangetown, was targeted after he was spotted on CCTV at 4am carrying a petrol can which he dumped.
Plain clothes officers went to the scene in Burlington Avenue, Grangetown, and they surrounded him but he became wildly aggressive.
He rejected numerous appeals to calm down and he picked up a large wooden pole and he approached them swinging it at them.
He then smashed it on the ground and he struck at the officers with the smaller weapon before jumping a gate between two houses into a raised garden.
He picked up a large garden fork and threw it at one officer. One officer who knew him arrived on the scene but Martin remained aggressive.
Prosecutor Jonnie Walker told Teesside Crown Court on Friday that they had to use CS spray to control and detain him after they had threatened him with a taser.
When he was taken to a police station he whistled throughout the interview and he claimed that the officers were corrupt.
Martin had been jailed before for assault with intent to resist arrest, affray, possession of an imitation firearm and assault.
Mr Walker said that 10 days earlier on May 26 Martin had been identified on CCTV when he and an accomplice smashed a hole in the roof of a McColls store on Burlington Avenue, stole £220 float money from tills and used an axe in a failed bid to smash open a floor safe.
Kieron Rainey, defending, said that Martin had taken the drug Temazapam mixed with alcohol when he was chased by plain clothes officers.
He had was frightened as he had previously been stabbed when in the area and he was frightened when he was surrounded by men in dark clothing.
He was not aware of them waving warrant cards at him, and he thought they were attacking him.
Mr Rainey added: “He did not come out of this unscathed.
“He suffered injury from batons and blasts from CS gas.
“Thankfully there was no injuries suffered by the police officers. He is a young man who still has the opportunity to learn if he steers clear of drugs, and he will be on licence in any event.”
The judge told Martin that he had a bad record for similar offences of violent behaviour and burglary.
Recorder Howard Prosser said: “A great deal of damage was caused in the burglary and you did attack the safe with an axe.
“The amount of money that you stole was clearly less than you wanted, but this offence is aggravated by the fact that you were sentenced for burglary in February and released in March.
“After you committed that offence you were involved in an offence of affray and you threatened police officers with weapons and it was a considerably long offence, and in my view it was a bad incident.”
Martin, of St Matthews Court, Grangetown, was jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to burglary and affray during his arrest.
