Thames Valley Police Officer left battered and bruised by drink driver given bravery award
A Thames Valley Police officer, who was left with whiplash and a severely bruised back after being violently attacked by a drunk driver and his passenger, has won a Thames Valley Police Federation Bravery Award.
PC Jason Brinklow and his Police Dog Cass, who is also winning the Award, will now join 12 others from across the Thames Valley who are being celebrated.
It was in September 2018, when the duo were responding to reports of a fight at a social club in Banbury when the incident occurred. One of the men involved in the fight had left the scene in his car and was believed to be drunk.
After patrolling the area, PC Brinklow, who was single crewed, found the vehicle and flashed his blue lights to get the driver to pull over.
The driver ignored the call to stop before pulling up on the drive outside his house. As PC Brinklow got out to deal with the incident, the driver and his passenger turned on him, running towards the single-crewed officer.
The passenger initially tried to stop PC Brinklow from dealing with all the other occupants of the car before the driver attacked him. As he did so, the passenger attacked the officer from behind, kicking him hard in the back.
In the melee, the passenger managed to wrestle control of PC Brinklow's radio and handcuffs, leaving him vulnerable and exposed to the aggressive assailants. At this stage, PC Brinklow managed to deploy PD Cass, but the young dog was still in training and wasn't able to deter the attackers.
PC Brinklow managed to get partial control of the situation after fending off attacks from the passenger and the driver. Without handcuffs, he was unable to make the arrest until backup units arrived.
"It's very rare to find that level of aggression from an individual, let alone two, at the same point," PC Brinklow said.
"Usually somebody who is driving drunk will either have the attitude 'you've caught me, I'll stop, I'll put my hands up' and that's easy to deal with."
"Or, they'll try and run away. It is very, very rare for them to turn and to fight in the way that these individuals did."
The passenger was discharged despite admitting the assault, while the driver was handed community service and a fine.
Thames Valley Police Federation Chair Craig O'Leary said PC Brinklow had shown real courage in proceeding with the arrest while single-crewed.
"He'll say it's just another job, but it wasn't. It was a violent, cowardly attack on one of our officers by two extremely aggressive men," Craig said.
PC Brinklow will attend an Awards Ceremony in the Thames Valley Policing area on September 9, where the overall winner of the Thames Valley Police Federation Bravery Awards will be announced.