OFFICERS IN STAB HORROR
Police man and woman in hospital with serious injuries after savage knife attack
TWO police officers suffered horrific stab wounds yesterday after being attacked during an emergency call-out at a quiet cul-de-sac.
A male officer was knifed in the neck while his female colleague – a probationer weeks into the job – suffered arm injuries when they ran into a house to help health workers in Greenock, Renfrewshire.
A man armed with a knife ran from the property into the street outside as police cars and riot vans flooded into the area. It is thought he was hit by a police vehicle before being rugby-tackled and overpowered.
Both officers – named last night as PC Kenny MacKenzie, 43, and PC Laura Sayer, 39 – were in a serious condition in separate hospitals last night.
A 43-year-old man arrested at the scene was also being treated
in hospital. The incident sent shockwaves through the ranks of Police Scotland yesterday and is sure to raise questions about the protective equipment carried by officers.
While the two PCs were armed with batons and an incapacitant spray, they did not have tasers on the call-out.
As tributes were paid to their bravery, details began to emerge about the desperate situation they faced as they arrived at an address in Gateside Gardens shortly before 9am.
It is believed the pair were dispatched when a visit to the house by a doctor, to carry out a mental health assessment, began to spiral out of control.
Showing what Interim Chief Constable Iain Livingstone described as ‘incredible bravery’, the two constables went in to the house where they both suffered stab wounds.
Screams were heard as a man ran up and down the street shouting before being knocked off his feet by a police car.
Witnesses said he got back on his feet but was finally subdued when an officer rugby-tackled him and others held him down.
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins later visited both officers in hospital and said he was ‘proud to speak to them’.
He told a press conference: ‘I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly praise the incredible bravery shown by these two officers during the extremely difficult and challenging situation they faced.’
PC Sayer has six months’ service with Police Scotland, while PC MacKenzie has nine years’ service. It is understood that PC MacKenzie was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, while PC Sayer remained in Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock.
Asked about the nature of their injuries, Mr Higgins said: ‘It’s not been classified as life-threatening at this moment but it is significant and it is serious.
‘I went to the hospital and I spoke to both officers. They were in remarkable good spirits.
‘I’m blown away by the courage of them.’
He said the incident was not terror-related and there was no risk to the wider public.
A large section of Gateside Gardens was cordoned off after the incident and several police vehicles remained in the area all day.
A team of forensic officers could be seen examining a section of neighbouring Grieve Road, where a shoe and an item of clothing lay in the street.
Pictures showed forensic officers lifting what appeared to be a knife from the street and placing it into an evidence bag.
Mr Higgins said the arrested man was treated for ‘very minor bruising and cuts and grazes’.
He confirmed that the 43-yearold’s mental well-being was being assessed but stressed this was standard procedure for everyone who is arrested. A police source, meanwhile, said both officers were ‘in a pretty bad way’.
The source said: ‘[PC Sayer] is still on probation and while this type of incident would have come as a surprise to any officer, it will have been a huge shock to her.
‘They turned up there to help a doctor with a guy amid concerns for his mental health. Both ended up getting really badly hurt.’
The source added: ‘Everyone is thinking of them and hoping for the best for them.
‘We know it’s a dangerous job but you don’t think when you leave the house in the morning that you’re going to come home with life-changing injuries.’
Those living near the scene of the incident described what they saw yesterday.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘It was utter chaos when it was happening, police were everywhere and there was a lot of screaming.’
She said of the man seen on the
‘Blown away by their courage’
‘Never seen anything like it’
street: ‘Nobody knew what was going to happen but he was taken down and taken away pretty quickly.
‘I don’t know when things will get back to normal but there are still police everywhere. It looks like they’ll be here for a long time to get to the bottom of things.’
Claire Scott, 27, said: ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, there were police cars and blue lights everywhere.
‘There seemed to be a lot of shouting and screaming before it all stopped and ambulances turned up.
‘I hope the police officers are going to be all right. They are only doing their job and shouldn’t be getting attacked like this.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it other than on TV. I didn’t think it would happen near where I live.’
The incident is certain to be examined very carefully by the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers.
Union chairman Andrea MacDonald said in a statement: ‘Police officers put themselves between other professionals and the public and dangerous individuals, sometimes with life-changing consequences for themselves and their families.
‘We wish our colleagues a speedy and full recovery.’ She later told
the Mail: ‘This has sent shockwaves around the police family in Scotland, with a number of officers calling to see if they can come in on their day off to assist if required.
‘Everyone is shocked and saddened and wishing the officers the best and a speedy recovery.’ Miss MacDonald noted it had been nearly 25 years since PC Lewis Fulton was stabbed to death in Glasgow in 1994 after attending an emergency call-out.
She said: ‘From that Scottish police officers got body armour and enhanced personal protective equipment.
‘Society changes and the force has to continue to review it to ensure our officers are adequately equipped and protected to ensure they keep themselves and the public safe.’
Miss MacDonald said around 500 tasers were about to be rolled out to Police Scotland officers.
She said: ‘The Federation are hugely supportive of that and obviously hope that will be expanded because tasers are part of the personal protective equipment.’
She added: ‘It’s very difficult to gauge whether tasers would have made any difference today at that incident.
‘It’s just that what we want is our officers protected to the best of our ability for what they are now facing in society.’
Mr Higgins, meanwhile, said: ‘Potentially a taser could have made a difference, but again that is a bit speculative.
‘Greenock is going to be one of the areas where during our rollout period there will be specially trained officers deployed.’
The incident follows long-term concerns over the levels of policing in the Greenock area.
Labour councillor for the area Natasha Murphy said: ‘For quite some time cuts to policing from the Scottish Government have meant that there is a huge strain on our local services.’
After the incident, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: ‘My thoughts and best wishes for a full recovery are with the two police officers injured on duty in Greenock today.
‘This is a reminder of the vital but often dangerous job our police men and women do, and what a huge debt of gratitude we owe to them.’
‘Cuts have strained police services’
THE stabbing incident in a quiet street in Greenock yesterday morning is a terrifying reminder that police work can go from routine to life-and-death in an instant.
The Mail has the deepest respect for those who, day and night, put themselves in harm’s way to protect the public.
They deserve the support that rightthinking members of the public afford them.
But we cannot be blind to the problems Police Scotland is already experiencing, even before further cuts bite and our politicians face difficult questions about the resources the force has at its disposal.
The unitary force was meant to deliver savings and efficiencies which have simply not materialised and warnings about lack of accountability have proved all too prescient.
As John MacLeod reports elsewhere on this page, our small band of police operate in a climate where the erosion of respect is leading to increasing levels of low-grade criminality.
And presiding over all this is Michael Matheson, Invisible Man of the Cabinet, as Justice Secretary.
Instead of making complacent pronouncements about how safe the streets are, he should be front and centre telling us what additional resources he has secured for the police by fighting tooth and nail in Cabinet.
For now, the thoughts of Scots will be with the two incredibly brave officers injured yesterday.
But we must soon confront the reality that Police Scotland’s problems are mounting and cannot be solved by a Justice Secretary more concerned about sparing his party’s blushes and protecting his own career.