2024 POLICE BRAVERY AWARDS
REGIONAL WINNER 2
Cleveland Police
Andy Cooke QPM DL, HMCIC, with PCs Holly Grey and Maverick Reddington
PCs Holly Grey, Sam Handley, Maverick Reddington, Rachael Dack, Cara Crosby and two officers who wish to remain anonymous
PCs Holly Grey, Sam Handley, Maverick Reddington, Rachael Dack, Cara Crosby and two officers who wish to remain anonymous contained an armed individual in a fast-moving incident that left three of them with knife wounds. PCs Grey and Handley were first on scene to a call of concern for safety that soon escalated into violence, where PC Handley was subject to a frenzied attack and PC Grey was stabbed in the leg and took a slash wound to her hand. The individual was contained in a living room in which his parents were sat too, and given previous intelligence that he could be armed, Taser was deployed but to little effect. Attempts to calm the individual were ignored and he became more and more agitated, and soon rushed at PC Grey and attempted to gain control of her Taser,
16 | POLICE | AUGUST | 2024
which had PC Handley not deployed his PAVA spray, he may have succeeded. Further use of PAVA spray and Taser had little effect on the individual. The subject rushed at PC Grey again, forcing her to the ground, at which point PC Handley used several baton strikes to help free PC Grey but inadvertently allowed the subject back to his feet to attack again.
A second use of Taser had little impact. PC Grey was aware of being stabbed in the hand, and at this point realised she felt blood running down her leg from a stab wound. It was clear the subject must be contained as concerns for the family in the room only grew.
The other officers now were arriving
and entering the room from different doors. Grabbing a family member, the subject was now holding a knife to her throat, but the officers entering the room provided enough of a distraction for her to break free.
At this moment the subject rushed
at the officers again, swinging his knife and trying to injure as many as possible. PAVA spray and more baton hits were deployed but again with little effect until PC Reddington and another officer managed to grab his arms causing him to fall to the ground. At this point the other officer received
a laceration to his arm. From the ground the subject continued to fight and spit at officers, still armed with a knife which he thrusted into PC Reddington just under his armpit. It was only down to pure luck this missed his lung and other major organs.
A struggle continued with the subject pinned to the ground, who was now outnumbered significantly. He was disarmed and subdued, after wounding three of the officers in attendance. PC Grey said: “I knew what I had to do,
and people were in danger and it’s my job to protect them.”
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