Police bravery: Armed man told South Yorkshire cops he ‘wanted to die’ and pointed loaded crossbow at them

PC Adam Craven, PC Austin Ainsworth, PC James Thornton, PC Anthony Cole, PC Alex Furniss, PC Amy Needham, Sgt Michael Beet and Sgt Alun Oliver defused the incident in May 2021 – and have now been handed South Yorkshire Police Federation bravery awards for their actions.

PC Cole was on duty with another officer who has since left the service, when he saw a man pointing a loaded crossbow at them in Barnsley town centre.

The offender dropped the crossbow, but grabbed it again as the officers moved to pick it up. So they took cover while PC Jones called for urgent assistance.

The rest of the team arrived to help their colleagues, made a shield barrier and forced the offender out of the town centre.

He finally put down the crossbow but climbed over the barrier of a bridge, where Sgt Oliver negotiated him to safety. PC Cole then arrested him.

PC Cole later intercepted and recovered another crossbow and ammunition that the offender had ordered online after the original incident.

The man with the crossbow was handed a 12-month sentence suspended for 24 months for having an offensive weapon in a public place, and a 16-month sentence suspended for 24 months for affray. He received a rehabilitation order for 15 days and was also given a criminal behavioural order with prohibitions on owning or buying a crossbow for three years.

Courage was ‘staggering’

When he passed sentence, Judge Peter Kelson QC said of the officers’ actions: “Their courage on the night in dealing with this case was simply staggering. They pursued their duty with astonishing courage and are a credit to the force.”

PC Cole said: “PC Jones and I didn’t have Tasers, we had nothing but us, really. The man said he wanted to die, at the same time as pointing that thing at us. We just concentrated on keeping his attention on us and saying, ‘Look, it’s not going to work. You’re not going to get shot because we haven’t got anything’.”

“It was a dangerous incident that we all dealt with. We worked as a team and we came out of it unscathed, so it’s good to be recognised for the work that we put in,” the officer added.

His colleague PC Ainsworth said: “Crossbows are as powerful as a gun. Our instincts kicked in – you want to help your colleagues and you don’t really think about your own safety, it happens so fast. So we got out of the van and I started trying to get the PSU shields out. But we were told afterwards that if he’d fired it, it would have gone straight through the riot shield.”

Sgt Oliver said of the arrest: “I’m a trained negotiator, so I switched roles then, from public order sergeant into the negotiator role. I talked him off the side of the bridge, we got him back over the fence, and then detained him under the Mental Health Act.

“It was a very young shift so we’d got a lot of very inexperienced officers. Looking at their faces, there was a lot of relief that they’d been successful, everybody was safe, and that we’d got the weapon back and got the subject.”

Paid to run towards the threat

Sgt Oliver added: “I’m humbled to receive this award. A lot of people do a lot of good things, on a daily basis. We’re paid to run towards the threat, and that’s what we did.”

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said: “You never know what you are going to experience when you turn up on duty. That night could have been very different, had it not been for these officers’ quick thinking and courage.

“The thought of the injuries that could have happened or human lives that could have been lost had shots been fired is quite frightening.”

"So all these officers should be exceptionally proud of their bravery and excellent work.”

The team will attend the South Yorkshire Police Federation Bravery Awards on Thursday May 25.

A winner will be announced who will travel to London for the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.