A Nottinghamshire Police officer has bravely spoken out about a horrific attack where a man spat in his eye as he tried to detain him.
PC Anthony Brice has today opened up about the catalogue of emotions he felt following this attack which came amid the Coronavirus lockdown, leaving him fearing he may have the deadly disease.
His personal account comes as the force prepares to launch a campaign with partners making clear that attacks on key workers like this will not be tolerated in any shape or form.
PC Brice, who is part of the Worksop neighbourhood response team, has served with Nottinghamshire Police force for 16 years but this attack left him wondering if he even wanted to continue with this job.
He said: “We were called to a domestic incident and the man was clearly extremely drunk when we got to the address. At first, he agreed to come calmly with us as I put the cuffs on him, but then he got riled up when his neighbours made comments as he was led out. That’s when he spat in my eye.
“It was disgusting but I knew I had to keep going and do my job professionally. I couldn’t stop despite all my instincts telling me to. I felt a wave of emotions – horror, shock, anger and I felt sick to my stomach. I would rather have been punched in the face than have this happen.
“When we got him to the car he then spat on my colleague as well. As soon as I had him secured in the car I was in such shock I tipped hand sanitiser in my eye as I tried desperately to get rid of the spit, leaving my eyeball red, sore and stinging.”
The officers still had to escort the man to custody and deal with the vomit in the police car that he’d left before PC Brice could take time to deal with what had happened to him.
“It was at that point it struck me just what had happened and what danger I could now be in,” he said.
“It was, of course, possible he was suffering from Coronavirus and if he was that meant I was at risk. You see the news all the time of fit and well people getting taken seriously ill and dying. My heart was racing and I was extremely stressed by what had happened.”
PC Brice was given priority access to the testing set up by the force and spent the next two days wondering if he was going to be alright.
“Those were the longest 48 hours I have endured,” he added. “My family were worried, I was worried. It was an incredibly anxious and emotional experience. When the email came back I was extremely apprehensive about opening it, worried about what if it had come back positive. Thank goodness it was negative. I physically did a dance I was so happy!”
The man who attacked him and his fellow officer, 32-year-old Daniel Hagerty, of Edinburgh Walk, Worksop, was swiftly dealt with and within just two days of his arrest was jailed for six months for the offence.
He was jailed on Monday 21 April by Nottinghamshire magistrates after pleading guilty to two counts of assault of an emergency worker, following an incident on Sunday 19 April at his home address.
PC Brice added: “I have been beaten, spat at, punched in the face and bitten and never has anyone been sent to prison for assaulting me like this before. So for him to be jailed like this has massively restored my faith in the system. I am glad it is all over and I am glad he has been sent to jail.
“I would hope for this never to happen to anyone else. No one should have to put up with this sort of behaviour in the job that they do.”
The force today unveiled a key workers video made by organisations across Nottinghamshire and Nottingham aimed at stamping out this sort of abusive behaviour.
