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A rallying cry to the nation from the first man to help dying PC Keith Palmer... as he backs St John Ambulance Awards
THE frantic battle to save PC Keith Palmer in the aftermath of the Westminster terror attack was recalled yesterday by one of the bystanders who rushed to give the stricken constable first aid.
Boxing coach Tony Davis was just feet away when the brutal stabbing took place outside the Houses of Parliament, and without hesitation ran towards the scene.
He was the first person to reach the wounded officer and used his own jacket to put pressure on his severely bleeding wounds before MP Tobias Ellwood and others arrived to perform CPR.
Tony had been outside the Parliament building filming on his mobile phone for a social-media post about the morning he had spent there giving a press conference with members of the British Lionhearts boxing team.
As Tony rushed to the scene, he thrust his phone into his pocket – where it continued recording – and he has now, for the first time, shared some of the harrowing details it contains in his first newspaper interview since the incident.
Tony has agreed to speak as The Mail on Sunday launches nominations for this year’s St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes Awards, which honour men, women and children for astonishing acts of bravery, giving lifesaving first aid in what are often the most difficult circumstances.
The winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony at the Hilton London Bankside on September 28.
ST JOHN Ambulance CEO Sue Killen said: ‘ The world witnessed on March 22 how first aid can make the difference between a life lost and a life saved. We saw the incredible bravery of Tony and other passers-by who gave assistance alongside the emergency services, to those who needed it after the terror attack.
‘Their courage on the day highl i ghted how first- aid training enables people to act confidently to help others when faced with a complex emergency situation.’
With two decades of military service under his belt, 42-yearold Tony says first-aid training and instinct combined when terror struck London. Of the recording he made unwittingly, he said: ‘Listening back, I’m amazed how calm I was.’
The Royal Fusiliers veteran, who has boxed f or England, recalled how a happy morning turned into a nightmare as he became surrounded by people fleeing the scene of the attack that left six dead and dozens more injured.
What happened is now well documented: 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood mowed down people on Westminster Bridge in a hire car before bursting through the gates outside Parliament and stabbing 48-year-old PC Palmer several times.
Masood was shot dead by a member of Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon’s security staff.
Tony was walking out of the Parliament building when he heard ‘ a huge fracas’. He said his decision to run towards PC Palmer was pure instinct. ‘ I look through the gates and there’s people running. I’m thinking, there must be some sort of student demonstration because it looked so heated. ‘Within seconds he [the attacker] comes through the gates and I saw him with the huge knives over his head, going for PC Palmer.’ With little thought for his own safety, Tony jumped over a fence to get to the critically injured PC Palmer, who was on the ground and bleeding profusely. ‘I noticed that Keith was in a great deal of difficulty. He had collapsed so I went down on one knee and started to tend to him.
‘First I ascertained what wounds he had. There were three major cuts that all looked very nasty.
‘There was one by his bicep, and one in his ribs just underneath his
armpit. Above that, in his head, was one that looked the worst.
‘ I checked his pulse and made sure he was breathing, and then used my jacket to try to stem the flow of blood and put pressure on the wounds.’
Tony, from Darlington, Co Durham, said it all happened very quickly, and he was soon joined by a number of people, including PC Palmer’s colleagues and Conservative MP Mr Ellwood.
Of his recording, he added: ‘You can hear the whole event, the shots, the screaming. At first it’s a bit of video and then it goes black as I’m putting it away to help Keith, but you can hear it all as I’m with him.
‘It was the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed. The recording goes on for about six minutes and then my phone ran out of battery.
‘You can hear me trying to reassure him, asking, “Are you all right son?” and shouting for an ambulance. Then Tobias and one of PC Palmer’s colleagues gave CPR and mouth-to-mouth.
‘When more people joined, I took a step back and made sure we were all trying to save him. We all just worked together.’
Following the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May backed calls for more first-aid training for everyone, including MPs.
She admitted that many would not know how to step in and help out in the way Tony and Tobias Ellwood did on the day.
In the Commons, she said: ‘I think that probably the vast majority of this House would not have had the skills to be able to act in that way, and it’s a very good message that maybe more of us should go out and acquire those skills.’
Tony say she is not specially trained and was able to step in thanks to knowledge in basic first aid. He said: ‘Keith Palmer was a stranger to me, but he felt like a friend afterwards.
‘Stepping in to try to help was the right thing to do. It didn’t save his life, which was heart-breaking for me, but next time, for someone else, it could be the difference between life and death.’