THE BRAVERY AWARDS PC Tom Swift and PS Mike Watkins
advanced menacingly towards them. The officers then deployed their Tasers, but they had minimal effect due to the baggy layers of clothing the man was wearing. The officers knew they had to keep themselves and the
PS Mike Watkins (right) and PC Tom Swift (left) were called to deal with reports that a man was swinging a large knife around his head and threatening passengers on the Number 75 bus in Holbeck, Leeds on 21 December last year. As the officers arrived at the scene shortly
after 11.30pm, they could see the man sitting down in the middle of the bus. He was still brandishing the large knife. The officers realised the man posed a severe threat and decided they had to act instantly rather than wait for backup to arrive.
They boarded the bus from the front, before calmly telling the man to stay where he was and to drop the knife, a request he flatly refused. Instead, he began to swing the large blade around again and
passengers out of knife range, so PS Watkins took the incredibly courageous step to draw his baton and approach the man in a bid to knock the blade from his hand.
“It’s another fantastic example of West Yorkshire Police officers doing everything in their power to stop people coming to harm”
As the man went to swing at them again, with the knife and the baton, the officers managed to rush at him, grabbing both his arms in a bid to neutralise the weapons. Pinning him to the ground, the officers managed to disarm him before getting him into handcuffs. The man
Seeing the drawn baton, the man began
to retreat back down the aisle. Given the confines of the bus, PS Watkins’ baton fell from his grasp, and the man stepped forward to pick it up.
With a knife in one hand and the police
baton in the other, the man turned towards the officers, again swinging both weapons around his head. All the while, the officers had managed to keep themselves, the passengers, and driver on the bus out of harm’s way.
was later sectioned under the Mental Health Act and received the treatment he required. West Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Brian Booth said: “It’s another fantastic example of West Yorkshire Police officers doing everything in their power to stop people coming to harm,” he said. “This was a very tough assignment, and it
got tougher given both Taser and the PAVA spray weren’t enough to stop this knifeman in his tracks. “Mike and Tom had to think fast and act fast, they potentially saved lives that night, and we are extremely proud of their actions and of them as officers.”
17 | POLICE | AUGUST 2022
REGION 2 WINNER
PS Mike Watkins PC Tom Swift WEST YORKSHIRE
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