Police officers were attacked in the line of duty while working to keep a group of teenage girls safe.
One suffered an injury to his thumb while trying to protect himself after he was assaulted by three men as he and a fellow officer tried to de-escalate a street disturbance in the city centre.
The officers had responded to reports of three men harassing a group of girls.
Despite the violence they faced, the determined officers arrested three suspects on suspicion of sexual assault and assaulting an emergency worker.
One of them was punched to the head and pushed around during the incident before he used PAVA incapacitant spray in an attempt to control and detain the men.
They then turned on his colleague, punching him to the head, as their violence continued. One of the officers used Taser on one of the attackers to quell the situation while his colleague managed to detain a second suspect. More officers quickly arrived to help.
The two officers were attacked while trying to defuse an argument involving a group of people at the corner of North Church Street and Trinity Square shortly after midnight today (Sunday 10 October 2021).
One went to hospital after suffering an injury to his thumb. The welfare of both officers is being looked after by Nottinghamshire Police.
Three men, aged 27, 31 and 62, were arrested in connection with the incident.
During a separate disturbance, which happened inside an address in Maryfield Close in Retford at around 9.40pm yesterday (Saturday 9 October 2021), another officer was attacked while trying to deal with a suspect.
He wasn’t injured but was forced to use a TASER device after the suspect became aggressive and tried to fight with him and his colleague.
A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault by beating of an emergency worker, common assault and resisting arrest.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cooper, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We treat all reports of sexual assault and harassment extremely seriously. Our priority is to keep people safe and we encourage any victims of these crime types to contact us immediately so that we can take action and provide support.
“Assaults on frontline emergency service workers who work tirelessly to serve and protect the public are completely and utterly unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“My message to those involved in this type of disgraceful behaviour, including both physical and verbal attacks on our officers and other frontline workers, is that this will be treated as a crime and they can be prepared to be arrested.
“We have repeatedly stressed that this is not just part of the job. Assaults on emergency workers are treated very seriously by the courts and I can assure anyone who assaults our officers, or any other emergency workers, that we will put them in front of magistrates as soon as possible.”
