Stabbed British officer cites ‘instinct’

LONDON — The British police officer stabbed while subduing a suspect on New Year’s Eve said Wednesday that “instinct took over” when he heard people screaming at a Manchester train station.

British transport police Sgt. Lee Valentine and several officers subdued the knife-wielding suspect with a stun gun and pepper spray after he stabbed two people.

“We had no idea what we were running towards when we heard the screams on New Year’s Eve,” said Valentine, who is recovering at home from a stab wound in his shoulder. “When we saw the man wielding a knife, instinct took over.”

Police said Wednesday that they are confident the suspect “acted alone in the final stages” of what police are treating as a terrorist act. They are still trying to determine whether he had any support while planning the assault. Police said the 25-year-old suspect has been detained under a mental-health law, which means he is being assessed by professionals and may be placed in a psychiatric hospital.

The suspect, who has not been named or charged, was shouting Islamist extremist slogans when he attacked two people at the Manchester Victoria station.

Two of the victims — a man and a woman — are still hospitalized with serious injuries. Police said the man is making “good progress” and should be released in the coming days while the woman is also mending but is expected to be hospitalized longer.