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| Police officer seriously hurt arresting 'armed man' in Sheffield | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| A police officer has been seriously injured and four others hurt as they attempted to arrest a man allegedly armed with an axe in Sheffield. | |
| The female officer suffered a severed finger and a smashed ankle after she responded to a domestic incident on Wednesday night. | |
| Police say four other officers were also injured as they tried to restrain the man. It is understood a police baton was used against the officers during the struggle. | |
| Simon Ellis, 46, described how he dragged the seriously injured female police officer, who also received cuts to her head, into his home by her body armour. | |
| Ellis saw two officers running up the stairwell in his block of flats in the Gleadless area of the city before a female neighbour alerted him. | |
| He said he saw “the lady police officer, who’s been injured the most … half-staggering, half-falling out of the stairwell.” | |
| The man allegedly fled through a nearby underpass chased by another police officer and the incident continued in a nearby Co-op store. | |
| Ellis said he lifted the female officer up by the shoulder to get her into his flat but she was so badly injured that he ended up dragging her by her body armour. “So she asked me to drag her to my house to get her away,” he said. | |
| Ellis locked himself and the officer in his flat in Plowright Close until a large number of police arrived. Paramedics worked on the officer for more than an hour in Ellis’ blood-covered hallway. | |
| South Yorkshire police said the most seriously injured officer was in hospital and was to undergo surgery for injuries she suffered in the incident. | |
| A man, in his 30s, was eventually arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after being overpowered by three officers in the Co-op store in Blackstock Road. | |
| Chief Superintendent David Hartley said the alleged attacker was subdued at the Co-op with a Taser, batons and “other non-lethal force”. | |
| He said armed officers were on their way to the scene at the time of the arrest but were not deployed. | |
| Speaking at the scene, Hartley would not confirm that the man was carried out of the shop on a stretcher but said he did suffer some minor injuries as he was arrested. | |
| He said the woman officer was conscious but was facing surgery later on Thursday. | |
| Hartley said she was single, with no children, and had about 10 years’ service. The senior officer said all the other injured officers were well enough to be still working on the case on Thursday morning. | |
| Hartley said he had heard reports of the brave actions of members of the public to help his officers and he hoped to be able to thank them personally later in the day. | |
| He described the initial call as a “routine response” to a domestic incident but said his officers then faced a “sustained violent attack” and “extreme violence”. | |
| “Whenever any of our colleagues face that ferocity and level of violence it does send shockwaves,” he said. | |
| “We expect risk, and part of our job is to come between the public and harm. I have enormous respect for the team of officers last night who did just that - no hesitation at all putting themselves between the public and harm. And showing incredible bravery, bringing a man who was clearly intent on potentially killing someone into custody.” | |
| Neil Bowles, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation, said the officers would be unable to work for some time while they recovered from the attack. | Neil Bowles, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation, said the officers would be unable to work for some time while they recovered from the attack. |
| He told the Sheffield Star: “This is an example of officers receiving a call from a member of the pubic and not knowing what they are going to face. It is atrocious that we have five officers injured in the line of duty – it is an attack on society because we now have five officers unable to work now for some time while they recover. | He told the Sheffield Star: “This is an example of officers receiving a call from a member of the pubic and not knowing what they are going to face. It is atrocious that we have five officers injured in the line of duty – it is an attack on society because we now have five officers unable to work now for some time while they recover. |
| “One of these officers needs to have an operation today. We are fortunate that we are not looking at something even more serious. | “One of these officers needs to have an operation today. We are fortunate that we are not looking at something even more serious. |
| “We have training and processes to follow but the fact remains that if you don’t know what you are facing there is always going to be an element of doubt when you turn up for a job, but officers have a sense of duty – they are there to protect the public, themselves and their colleagues.” | “We have training and processes to follow but the fact remains that if you don’t know what you are facing there is always going to be an element of doubt when you turn up for a job, but officers have a sense of duty – they are there to protect the public, themselves and their colleagues.” |