Officer injured attempting 1st arrest

metman · 22-01-2009 10:15am #1

A probationer PC was so determined to make his first arrest he chased a suspect despite having a branch stuck in his eye.
22-Jan-09

Arrested man realises the extent of the officer's injuries and says, 'Mate, you’ve got to go to hospital'...

PC John Nash, 25, only realised the horrific extent of the injury after the man he arrested told him: “Mate, you’ve got to go to hospital.”

John had been in the force only six days when he started pursuing two cars being driven erratically. One of the cars pulled over and the PC began to chase the men — but he slipped head-first into a bush and skewered his eye on the end of a branch.

The six-inch piece of wood snapped off but, incredibly, John was unaware how badly he was hurt. It had pierced his eyelid, smashed a cheekbone, forced itself under his eyeball and had come to rest against his brain. But John carried on chasing one of the men in Rochdale, Gtr Manchester.

He said: “I thought I’d hit my baton as I fell. I just thought I’d given myself a black eye.

“The suspect was still trying to get over a fence and I grabbed his ankle. He kept referring to my face and I said, ‘That doesn’t matter — come on’. Then somebody said, ‘Get an ambulance quick’. I wondered whether he was talking about me.”

John underwent three hours of surgery at Blackburn Royal Hospital, Lancs. He has retained some sight in the eye and hopes it will return to normal.

Surgeon Annaswami Vijaykumar said: “If the wood had entered a few millimetres differently the eye would have been permanently damaged.” John, who is engaged, added: “I would do the same again tomorrow. I love my job.”

The suspect was later released.

Source
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Ouch! Hope PC Nash makes a full recovery. No doubt this experience will temper his probationary enthusiasm! A lesson in there for all super-keen newbies.....