Taser saves Northamptonshire Police Constable from being strangled by raging thug

A Northamptonshire Police Constable escaped being killed when a raging thug strangling him was tasered in the nick of time.

The officer was wrestled to the ground and grabbed around the throat after answering a 999 call to a late-night disturbance at a house on Saturday night.

The thug's size made him impossible to beat off and PAVA spray — an incapacitant similar to pepper spray — also failed to work.

But the offender was finally hauled off the stricken PC after being tasered just as he was about to lose consciousness by a second officer on the shout.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley sparked controversy in 2019 by becoming the first police chief to pledge issuing tasers to all officers who wanted them.

He admitted: "The argument of ‘necessity’ to issue a taser to every officer who wants one, ends right here.

"Today I may well have been speaking to the next of kin of my officer, delivering devastating news.

"Thank goodness his colleague had taser, which saved his life."

Mr Adderley revealed his plan after Louey Kostromin was jailed for up to 12 years in August 2019 for biting PC Callum Burke's ear in a shocking attack at probation offices in Northampton.

The roll-out of tasers to all Northamptonshire's 1,200-plus officers is due to to be completed next month.

Mr Adderley added: "Officers deserve all the protection we can give them. I will do exactly that!!

“As I’ve always said, I hope taser is the deterrent and that officers feel protected and valued — as they should be! We ask such a lot of them.

"Many uninformed people assumed I made my decision to issue tasers to every front-line officer, based on a couple of tragic cases at the time.

"The reality is that I have been studying taser use, impact, effect, consequences, deterrent and social acceptance since 2012.

"I firmly believe that this is absolutely the right decision and that every police officer has a right to protect themselves, and the public, in the most effective way they can.

"There are some officers who would rather not have the responsibility of carrying a taser — and I totally respect that as this is indeed a great responsibility.

"But a measure of success for the taser is that it is never used.

"We have seen the severity of assaults on our staff decrease already and a more confident workforce as a consequence. Knowing the force ‘has your back’ is one hell of a boost."

Tasers are conducted energy devices designed to temporarily incapacitate targets with an electrical current.

According to the National Police Chiefs Council, the threat of using one will resolve 85 per cent of incidents without it being fired.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman confirmed a 43-year-old man has been charged in connection with Saturday's offence at around 10.30pm in Wimbourne Walk, Corby.