Traffic ground to a halt on Par-la-Ville Road yesterday evening when Police stopped a car and got into a struggle with the occupants eventually quelling them with incapacitant spray.

A Police spokesman said: "Around 6:40pm, Police on mobile patrol in the City of Hamilton had cause to stop a car traveling on Par-La-Ville Road. The three male occupants of the car were subsequently arrested after a brief struggle which involved officers using a deterrent spray.

"Two of the men were arrested on suspicion of taking a motorcycle without the owner's consent. The third man was arrested for obstruction."

The Police officers commenced a search of the black Mazda after the three men were taken into custody.

A woman who witnessed the incident as she left her nearby office around 6.45 pm said: "A Police officer on a motorbike pulled the car over. When he got off his bike to go to the driver's door, one of the people started running away. By this time other Police cars had come and cut the guy off by the gas station."

The woman, from Hamilton Parish, who declined to give her name added: "This is a sign of the times but it's nice to see the Police were here so fast."

The uniformed officers got unexpected help from off-duty Inspector Cal Smith (pictured in the orange shirt) who happened to be passing when the incident kicked off.

"I was just driving along the road when I stopped to help my colleagues," he explained.