AN investigation has been launched after a man was hit by a police car responding to a 999 call yesterday evening.

Brighton seafront was shut off from 6.05pm after the 59-year-old was knocked down near to Pitcher and Piano in King’s Road.

A huge police cordon was set up and there was traffic chaos for much of the night with huge tailbacks along the seafront.

The man survived the crash and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton for treatment for a shoulder injury.

A police spokeswoman said his condition was not life threatening.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud thud and screams before seeing police cars and ambulances race to the scene.

The man was seem lying in the road before paramedics and police officers helped to lift him on to a stretcher and into the ambulance to be taken to hospital.

A police car, which was facing west in the opposite direction to traffic, had a smashed windscreen, dents in the bonnet and the engine still running.

Bar staff in Pitcher and Piano said they had to shut their doors, which open onto the seafront, as it was inside the cordon. They said police asked for any CCTV footage which captured the incident.

Officers spoke to eyewitnesses on the seafront who were visibly shaken by the incident.

They also interviewed guests of the Queen’s Hotel, which has bedrooms and a bar overlooking the crash scene.

Emma, Andy, Kim and Lucy Shakespeare, who have travelled from Birmingham for a trip to Brighton and were about to have a meal in the hotel bar, suddenly saw police cars flashing past the window.

Mr Shakespeare said: “We didn’t hear any sirens or anything from inside.

“We just saw the commotion outside from the window and tried to see what had happened.”

Emma Shakespeare said: “We looked out the window and saw the smashed windscreen and the massive dent in the bonnet of the police car and the man lying in the road. He was blinking and moving.”

Kim Shakespeare added: “Officers have come in to speak to us and ask if we saw what happened but we only saw what happened after.”

One man, who was sat on the beach nearby, said he heard a “loud thud” and then a woman screaming.

He added: “I raced up the steps to see what happened and the man was lying in the road.”

Chris Kimmel, 19, of Essex, who was sitting outside Bar Rogue, said: “The first thing I saw was a man lying in the road and police cars everywhere.

“It was horrible.”

A man who gave his name only as Ben, from Nottingham, was standing with friends by the junction with Pool Valley just after the crash.

The 36-year-old said: “We were standing here and all of a sudden we saw three or four police cars fly past at high speed and an ambulance.”

Ely Tah, 29, of Brighton, said he saw a policeman looking like he was “about to faint or feeling unwell” being helped away from the scene by two fellow officers.

Witnesses said traffic had been stopped from coming down West Street and turning east along the seafront in a bid to stop traffic.

A passenger and the driver of a 5B Brighton and Hove Buses service to Hollingbury - which is currently being diverted along the seafront due to roadworks in North Street - were seen giving witness statements to police as well as several passersby who had been near the doorway to Clarendon Mansions on the corner of East Street at the time.

Sussex Police has referred the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, as is protocol after such an incident.

The force is now appealing for any witnesses to come forward and call police on 101 quoting Operation Cornhill.