Horrific images have been released showing the disturbing reality of frontline policing after an officer was left with serious head trauma and brain damage following the attack.
Lancashire police officer Ashley Aspinall spent 11 days in hospital with many colleagues believing he could die.
Due to injuries, Ashley was out of work for a further four months before returning to work as an intervention officer at Blackpool.
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Ashley and her colleagues were confronted by the attacker, Ian Scott, while attending an unrelated incident in Blackpool on April 7.
Scott was being escorted out of a bar at the time and was abusive to staff as they tried to take his phone.
As police colleagues entered the bar and tried to take his phone, Scott’s behaviour began to escalate into verbal abuse.
As the situation escalated, attempts were made to detain and arrest her, but the interaction led to Ashley on top of Scott on the pavement.
As Ashley lay on the ground bleeding from the back of her head, Scott continued to verbally abuse, taunt and mistreat the unconscious officer while the officer received life-saving intervention.
Scott, of Cavendish Road, Bispham, was arrested and later charged with Section 18 assault and assault on a police officer. He was found guilty of Section 20 wounding of an emergency services worker and appeared at Preston Crown Court on July 30.
The 50-year-old defendant was given a 24-month suspended sentence and was also ordered to abstain from alcohol for 120 days, serve 15 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, pay £1,500 compensation and carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
However, Ashley has been through a long recovery since this encounter and the impact on her family and colleagues has been huge and continues.
Here is an excerpt from Ashley’s statement to the court:
“I suffered a significant emotional blow from this incident. I remember my thoughts at the time were that I was truly convinced I was going to die and I had made peace with that mentally.”
“I thought about all the good experiences I had in life and I gave up on myself in that moment. The only thing that kept me going was my daughter and seeing her again. I thought about taking her to her first day of school, to the prom, and to all the opportunities that were yet to come that I wanted to achieve. That was the only thing that kept me fighting and kept my mind off the immense pain I was in.”
“I can’t emphasize enough how much I thought at that moment that I was going to die and that that was the end for me.”
“I remember the tone of voice of the paramedics who looked after me. The fear in their voices was sharp at the level of my injuries. I didn’t know what my injuries were at the time so I didn’t know what was happening. It felt surreal, but hearing the paramedics talk about it felt real. The paramedics looked scared and anxious. I recognised the paramedic’s voice from working with him in the past, so when I heard him panicking I knew it was serious. They later told me that if this had happened that day they would have called a helicopter paramedic because I needed urgent medical attention.”
“I remember trying to communicate with my colleagues on the ground and my brain just wasn’t working. I kept calling my colleagues by the wrong names even though I was fully aware of their names.”
“Since the incident, I have replayed it over and over in my head trying to figure out if I did something that could have triggered this incident, and to be honest, I believed I didn’t. I followed police protocols and policies, including the five-step objection, before making the decision to arrest the male. I don’t believe any of my actions that day warranted this level of injury.”
Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said: “This is a worrying case where a dedicated and determined police officer suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of being attacked in the line of duty. Thankfully Ash has made a good recovery and this is thanks to the quick thinking of his colleagues. They are all a credit to Lancashire Constabulary.”
“Attacks on our officers are never acceptable. They are not part of the job and should never be seen as such. We cannot normalize them as a society.”
“My officers are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, aunts and uncles. They are not just a uniform.”
“We are seeing an increasing number of attacks on emergency workers and something needs to change to stop perpetrators seeing this disgusting behaviour as acceptable. I don’t want my officers’ families sitting at home wondering if their loved ones will come home.”
“Anyone who has seen the footage from the night or heard Ash’s heartbreaking victim impact statement will understand why I am saddened by the sentence given to Ian Scott. When police officers are attacked – and when the level of injury sustained in this case was of a serious nature – the offender should be expected to receive an immediate prison sentence.”