‘I am breathing & conscious …’


I was awoken by a text from Andy this morning asking if I’d heard from Milky.

Thinking it unusual that he hadn’t awoken me in the wee small hours (he is nights at the moment & finds it amusing to do so, come to think of it, he wakes me when he’s not nights due to the nocturnal lifestyle I told you of previously). I told Andy that I hadn’t heard from him.

Andy then rang to tell me that Milky & Al (one of our female officers) had been attacked by a man with a Stanley knife. Al had been stabbed in the chest (a fact she wasn’t aware of until she found the slash mark in her Metvest) It is thanks to her vest that she was uninjured but she is understandably very shaken up.

Milky didn’t get off so lightly & in the struggle was slashed across the forehead & stabbed in the upper arm, requiring 30 stitches in all.

The reason they were attacked ? They stopped & questioned a man & asked him why he was pushing along a motorbike at 0100 in the morning. When his answers didn’t add up they told him he was under arrest.

Words fail me in describing the low-life that did this, I can’t even begin to tell you how I would like him to die. Despite the fact that an armed response unit was with Milky 40 seconds after he was attacked, the man got away. How I wish he had stared down the barrel of an MP5.

Poor Andy sounded very shaken up, I know from experience how horrible it is to hear your team-mates shouting for help on a radio & there is absolutely nothing you can do. He will be hearing the incident in his mind for days to come.

Night duty has been very busy for the team this week, this being the 3rd knife incident.

I know it’s no-one’s fault that I’m not there, but I am fiercely protective of ‘my’ team, hence my nagging the ones who don’t do things safely.

Last Friday night as I went to sleep, I heard 2-tones & felt very odd knowing it was my team out & about without my being there to keep an eye on them.

The one bit of light-relief (this is Milky after all) was the fact that Milky did his own ambulance message.

An ambulance message is the details an officer passes over the radio when asking us to call an ambulance for a member of the public. They describe the injuries, give the age & gender of the person & always end with whether or not the patient is breathing & conscious.

I wish I had been there to hear Milky describe his injuries to the control room & end with ‘…and I’m breathing & conscious’. Even in adversity he can’t help being funny.

I’m going to see him this evening & will hopefully be eating the chocolate I’ll buy him. I’ll pass on your best wishes, along with mine for a speedy recovery.

Cx