An Essex Police officer who doggedly refused to let a criminal get away despite being punched, kicked and bitten by the man who also repeatedly tried to gouge his eye out has won an Essex Police Federation Bravery Award.<\/p>\n
The horrifying assault by a former semi-professional boxer left courageous PC Mason Doyle with a gashed head, concussion and a nosebleed. But he showed huge bravery in repeatedly denying the wanted man his escape.<\/p>\n
He will now join colleagues from across the county being celebrated at the 2021 Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards.<\/p>\n
It was in March 2019, when PC Doyle was helping CID colleagues to bring in a suspected burglar in Tilbury when the wanted man jumped from the first-floor window of his house into a neighbouring garden, dressed only in his boxer shorts.<\/p>\n
PC Doyle had positioned himself at the rear of the man\u2019s property and could see him running off into a road before giving chase.<\/p>\n
He had to get over fences and a large garden fence to keep up with the man who he eventually found cowering under some bushes.<\/p>\n
As PC Doyle began to radio in that he had found the man, the culprit set upon the officer and assaulted him by kicking, punching and biting him. As the pair wrestled, they fell through a brick garden wall and crashed down among the bricks on the ground.<\/p>\n
Terrifyingly the man then got two fingers and dug them into PC Doyle\u2019s eye socket in a sickening attempt to gouge his eye out. He also grabbed PC Doyle\u2019s radio, smashing it in the process, meaning the officer could not call for back-up.<\/p>\n
The man then attempted to flee over a nearby fence before being pulled back down by PC Doyle. The man again tried to gouge out PC Doyle\u2019s eye before colleagues finally located them and came to assist their colleague.<\/p>\n
They rugby tackled the man to the ground to get him under control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like people getting away,\u201d PC Doyle said. \u201cI did my best to make him stay where he was and then go to court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the incident lasted roughly two or three minutes, but it felt forever. At the time, I didn\u2019t know he was a semi-professional boxer, so he knows how to fight if he wanted to.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy eye really hurt, but thankfully no damage had been caused. I\u2019ve still got a scar where he bit me on my arm too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offender Zach McCarthy was sentenced to eight months in prison for the attack.<\/p>\n
PC Doyle added: \u201cI was surprised to be nominated for the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards because we\u2019re police officers, we deal with very nasty individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nice to hear I\u2019d been nominated, though, because it\u2019s kind of like a thank you in a way, saying, \u2018we appreciate what you\u2019ve done,\u2019 but to me, it\u2019s just one of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said PC Doyle was a very worthy winner of an Essex Police Federation Bravery Award.<\/p>\n
\u201cMason was very tenacious and wasn\u2019t going to let this clearly violent man get away from him,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t like letting the bad guys go.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite his horrible injuries – and having your eye gouged like that must have been terrifying \u2013 Mason stuck to the task and got his man off the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cMason will just say it was part of his job. That what he did was nothing special. That couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
PC Doyle will attend the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards \u2013 which will combine celebrating 2020 and 2021 winners \u2013 in Essex in September. Overall winners for both years will be announced and they will go on to compete in the National Police Bravery Awards.<\/p>\n
The Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards are sponsored by Uniform Mortgages.<\/p>\n
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