Hero policeman slashed in face by swordsman
A MAN slashed a policeman in the face and back with a samurai sword yesterday.
The brave officer was taken to hospital. Following treatment his injuries were not deemed to be life threatening and he has since been discharged and is recovering at home.
The Greater Manchester Police officer was with colleagues called at 1.50pm to Demesne Road in the Whalley Range area, about two miles from the city centre, to confront a man waving a sword.
As the suspect ran from an alleyway he charged into a barricade of police vans, swinging his blade.
A witness said he ran into the front garden of a property.
Dragged
They said: “The police tried to stun him because he wasn’t dropping the weapon. He ran towards them with the weapon in the air.
“From there the officers tackled him, pushed him over.
“That’s when the officer tried to disarm him. You could see them using their batons on his legs. And he was not letting go.”
Even when knocked to the floor with a riot shield, the man kept slashing at the officers’ legs as they tried to Taser and disarm him.
Haroon Altaf, 34, who captured the incident on his mobile phone, said: “I saw a man running across the road with what seemed to me to be a 3ft sword. Police were everywhere.
“He had run into somebody’s front garden and these police officers dragged him out.”
He said that before he was arrested, the man was shouting. He said: “I think the officers did quite well. They were very professional. It’s a shame they got hurt in the process.”
Another resident said: “I came out of the shop and I could hear shouting. The coppers Tasered the guy.
“One had blood on his face. I could see the machete on the ground.
“The man was on the floor crying and shouting. It was pretty brave of the police to engage with him.
“This was a Sunday afternoon and people were out with their kids.”
The police said one of their officers was “slashed with a sword” when they arrived at the scene and tried to engage with the man.
A spokesman added: “A Taser was deployed for the safety of everyone at the scene.”
A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article and assaulting a police officer.
The immediate area was cordoned off by police.
Detectives and forensic teams launched an investigation into what had sparked the shocking incident.