Two teenagers were arrested following a suspected motorcycle theft after they were apprehended by a member of the public thought to have been actor Tom Hardy.
A witness told how the Hollywood star caught the driver after a dramatic chase through gardens and a building site during the incident on Sunday.
The Metropolitan Police said it arrested the 16-year-old males near the actor’s home in Richmond, south-west London, and they have since been released.
Onlooker Arun Pullen, 22, told The Sun newspaper how two youths on a motorbike jumped a red light at a busy junction before crashing into a £50,000 Mercedes.
He said the 39-year-old Batman star “switched into superhero mode”, chasing down one of them before checking him for weapons.
“Tom must have been walking down the road. He went off like a shot in pursuit and looked furious,” he said.
“I asked Tom what happened and he told me he chased him through my back garden and caught him around the block – but the route was like an assault course.”
Arun’s girlfriend Kalisha, a fan of the actor, added: “There was no mistaking him.”
Scotland Yard said in a statement on Tuesday: “At 12.34pm on Sunday April 23, a motorcycle was in collision with a car in Sheen Road, Richmond.
“Officers were not pursuing the motorcycle but happened to be present at the location at the time of the collision.
“Two 16-year-old boys immediately made off from the scene.
“The pillion passenger was detained by police a short distance away and was arrested on suspicion of taking a vehicle without consent and allowing to be carried.
“The rider of the motorcycle was detained by a member of the public in Church Road and then arrested by officers on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and being disqualified from driving.
“Both teenagers sustained injuries as a result of the collision and the London Ambulance Service was called.
“They were initially taken to a south London hospital for treatment and then taken into custody at a west London police station.”
