'Daddy, there’s a man with a knife': Off-duty cop acts as human shield as man wields 11-inch knife
An off-duty police officer acted as a human shield after encountering a drunk man wielding an 11-inch knife and threatening passers-by in a shopping centre.
Police Constable Ian Molineaux has just finished watching a children’s movie with his daughter and her friends when the children spotted the accused offender roaming the centre in Southend, Essex.
“Daddy, there’s a man with a knife,” PC Molineaux recalled his daughter as saying.
He led his family to the exit before approaching the man who was suffering a schizophrenic episode while also appearing ‘obviously drunk’, according to the officer.
He said the young man was threatening people with the weapon and waving it around throughout the incident, which was caught on CCTV.
“I just decided, I’ve got to go and stop him,” he said.
“I’ve got to stop him getting out of the shopping centre if nothing else.”
PC Molineaux tried to calm the man down by talking to him and it was then he learned the man's sadistic plan.
The accused had grabbed the knife from his mother’s kitchen and planned to stab someone that night.
While PC Molineaux struggled to get the man to calm down, he did succeed in distracting the violent youth and keeping him away from the public.
“He kept slashing at me with a knife,” the officer said.
“He kept coming towards me.”
Before long, police crews arrived at the scene and the young man was tasered.
PC Molineaux was nominated for a Metropolitan Police Bravery of the Year Award for his courageous act.
The winner will be announced before the end of the month.
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