Officer commended for bravery after confronting and detaining burglar in Chislehurst

9 May 2019 03:01 PM

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer acted above and beyond his duties and responsibilities after he prevented a burglar from falling out of a window, by holding on to him for approximately one and a half minutes despite having a serious laceration to his arm the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation has concluded.

At 7.51pm, 29 September 2018 the MPS received a report that two individuals in dark clothing had entered a house on Chislehurst Road, Chislehurst. Shortly after the report an officer attended the incident with his police dog. The officer made his way into the property to confront two masked men wearing motorcycle helmets, one of whom was in possession of a machete style knife.

One of the suspects ran from a window onto a garage and ran away. The officer attempted to detain the other man. In an effort to escape the man attempted to climb out of a first floor window while being held by the officer.

The officer attempted to pull the man back into the building but was pulled into the window when the man went out of the window. The officer was pulled into a shard of glass which resulted in a serious laceration to his arm. Despite this injury, the officer held on to the man with one arm for approximately one and a half minutes until other officers were able to assist him, during this time the man lost consciousness.

When other officers arrived, the man was dropped to another officer who attempted to break his fall. This officer, and another officer provided first aid to the man until the London Ambulance Service arrived.

The man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was arrested for aggravated burglary.

A mandatory referral was made by the MPS and an independent investigation was launched.

We received statements from 11 officers who attended the incident. Investigators further received seven files of BWV footage, an audit file from a BWV camera, medical disclosure and photos from the injured officer, and access to exhibits recovered from the scene by the MPS.

We concluded our investigation in March 2019 and were of the opinion the use of force and tactics were a justified attempt to prevent harm to the man from falling and no officers had acted in a manner that would require any further action. We also noted that the officer who confronted and detained the suspected burglars should be commended for his actions.

The MPS agreed with this conclusion and the officer has been recognised by the force for his bravery.

IOPC Regional Director for London, Sal Naseem, yesterday said:

“The actions of this officer showed tremendous bravery. Despite sustaining a serious injury to themselves the officer truly went above and beyond to ensure the safety of this individual. As part of our investigation conclusion we recommended the force acknowledge the good work of the officer as we believe it important that such dedication and courageousness is rewarded. However, we felt it was also equally important to highlight this act of bravery publicly.”