TWO police officers who tackled an aggressive suspect who stabbed one of them with a screwdriver during an incident in Warrington town centre have won Cheshire Police Federation Bravery Awards.
At around 10 pm on 27 June 2024, PC Chris Walker and PC Lewis Hand were on patrol in Warrington when a CCTV operator reported a man who was suspected to be selling drugs from a bicycle.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they told the suspect to get off his bike and were able to contain him between a building and the response car. The man was of a large stature and appeared to be on drugs. He was clearly agitated, avoiding eye contact, and kept nervously touching his right pocket despite repeated commands not to.
The officers told the man he was detained for a search, and they took his backpack away. PC Hand took hold of the man’s arm, and at this point, the man became highly aggressive, punching PC Hand in the chest and causing him to fall backwards. The man then attempted to run away.
PC Walker grabbed hold of him and attempted to hold him against the railings, but due to the man’s size and the fact he was under the influence of drugs, he continued to try to run.
The man then grabbed a screwdriver from his pocket and stabbed it at PC Walker’s chest four times.
PC Walker was wearing body armour, but he said it was a close call: “He hit the very top of my body armour; five millimetres above that and it would have gone under my throat, near the clavicle.”
The man continued to aggressively fight both PC Walker and PC Hand, and by this point, they were all in the middle of a busy road with traffic on both sides and a bus approaching at speed. The officers succeeded in taking the man to the floor and used their body weight to control him. However, the man continued to resist and was hitting and kicking out, injuring PC Walker’s shin.
PC Walker said: “We were lying in the road and the bus stopped two feet from us, because it had come over the brow of the hill, not seen us and slammed on the brakes.”
The man showed so much resistance that he was able to stand up again and fight, even with the weight of both officers on him. The officers then took him to the floor a second time and, although he continued to resist, they finally managed to handcuff him.
PC Walker recalled: “We were starting to get really tired, because we’ve been fighting in body armour, taken by surprise. He’s full of drugs, and we’re not, so we’re having to rely on our level of fitness, and that’s when Lewis gets the second cuff on. We could hear the sirens start to come, getting louder and louder, and all we were thinking was: ‘Get here, get here, get here’…When you hear the sirens, and your mates are coming, it’s everything.”
The backup officers arrived at the scene and secured the suspect in the back of a police van. In the man’s backpack, officers found knives, scissors, screwdrivers and items adapted to be weapons, including a five-inch blade attached to a pen. The man was also found in possession of crack cocaine and heroin, and he had two screwdrivers on his person.
PC Walker said: “If he’d have got to that bag, it would have been a totally different matter, because I don’t believe my body armour would have stopped the biggest of the knives… I had to walk off and gather myself because I was quite upset. It was overwhelming for me, because I’ve got six children and four grandchildren, so it started to play in my mind what could have happened.”
Despite such traumatic events, the officers carried on with their duties and PC Hand even made a further arrest for burglary later in the shift.
The offender later went to court and admitted possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin, possession of a bladed article in public, assaulting an emergency worker and obstructing a police officer. He received a 36-month prison sentence.
When they were told they were nominated for a Federation Bravery Award, PC Hand said: “I was really shocked, because we didn’t run towards danger, we just had to deal with what was in front of us. Protect ourselves, protect each other, work together.”
PC Walker added: “All I could think about was Lewis, and Lewis was thinking about me – we’ve got to protect each other. To get an award for it – that’s really kind of people to recognise that. Especially it being other police officers, because they understand what we do.”
Cheshire Police Federation Chair Jamie Thompson said: “What incredible courage our colleagues showed. Despite the extreme danger they were in, Chris and Lewis showed outstanding composure and courage in restraining and arresting this violent suspect.
“Their swift and professional actions brought the incident under control and ensured the safety of others. They are very deserving of a bravery award.”
PC Walker and PC Hand will attend the Cheshire Police Federation Bravery Awards 2026 on Thursday, 12 March.
At the event, an overall winner will be announced, who will travel to London for the national Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.
