Man almost took chunk out of PC’s arm after she told him not to visit others

Police were ‘absolutely disgusted’ when a man punched two officers and bit one on the arm simply for explaining coronavirus lockdown rules.

After responding to reports of a street disturbance in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, they officers tried to tell the man he shouldn’t be visiting other people’s homes. The culprit lashed out at the pair and sank his teeth into one of the constables who days earlier had been delivering Easter eggs to children while on patrol.

The officer had to attend hospital following yesterday’s incident at 6.40pm and was later discharged. In a Tweet shared by Home Secretary Priti Patel, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: ‘Words fail me when it comes to some people’s behaviour. This is shocking at the best of times, but during a Coronavirus pandemic this is just the lowest of the low. I trust the CPS & Court will now do what we all expect of them!’

Superintendent Richard Hunt said: ‘It is absolutely disgusting that my officer was faced with this last night and all of our thoughts are with her as she rests at home. This is a particularly challenging time for everybody at the moment, made worse by something so mindless like this.

‘Having spoken to the officer earlier this morning, she said that last night’s incident was a stark contrast to the support she has felt over the past few days while she has been delivering Easter eggs to local children whilst out on patrol.

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‘This just goes to show that, thankfully, incidents like this are not a reflection of the vast majority of the public who are showing great support to us.’

A 29-year-old man was arrested and is being questioned in custody on suspicion of criminal damage, domestic violence assault, section 18 assault with intent to resist arrest and regulation 8 of the Health Protection Regulation 2020 (Coronavirus).

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