West Midlands Police Bravery Awards: sergeant saves woman from dangerous dog attack

18 December 2024

Saving a woman’s life as she was savagely attacked in the street by two dogs has earned a Sergeant a win at the up-and-coming West Midlands Police Federation Bravery Awards.

Paul Williams said he acted as any police officer would do when he came to the rescue of the woman, who had suffered serious injuries in the attack.

Paul was single-crewed when he arrived at the scene to find the woman being mauled by two German shepherd-type dogs.

He said: “She already had serious injuries and she was close to dying.”

Paul got out of his car and attempted to use his Taser to subdue one of the dogs, but the weapon malfunctioned.

Both dogs charged at him, forcing Paul back into his car, before returning to attack the woman again.

Sergeant Paul Williams.

Paul said: “I assessed the Taser and what the malfunction might have been.

“I knew I had another shot, so went back out and managed to knock one to the ground.

“The second dog then charged at me, jumped up and latched onto my arm.

“I managed to shake it off and get back in my car, at which point the Taser finished its cycle on the first dog.

Harrowing

“It got up and ran off and the second dog followed it.

“The woman got into another police car and they took her to hospital.”

Paul described the incident as ‘harrowing’.

The woman was in intensive care for four weeks, while Paul described his injuries as superficial, which required dressing and injections.

He said: “She was being mauled for about four minutes before I got there. The CCTV and body-worn footage is harrowing.

“Members of the public tried to intervene, throwing things out of their car windows at the dog or using their cars to try to push them off, but the dogs just carried on.

“Being on my own, I thought that if this goes wrong, there's no one there to help me.

“As police officers, we're the ones that are called and we're the ones that need to take action and we're the ones that sign up to do that.

Trouble sleeping

“I couldn't just sit there and watch her get killed in front of me.

“And if it wasn't me, nobody else was going to do anything, so that's what I did.”

The victim had been having trouble sleeping and had gone for a walk when the incident had taken place in Yardley, Birmingham, at around 2.20am earlier this year, during the summer.

It is thought the dogs had been released onto the street by their owner.

Paul said: “Thank goodness it was at that time of the morning and there wasn’t children and families around.

“Once the dogs ran off, my concern was that the next person they come across was in a lot of trouble.

“Luckily they split up. I stayed with one of the dogs, which just lay in the road and the other dog was detained by firearms officers.”

Brave

Now West Midlands Police Federation has recognised Paul’s courage, naming him as a winner of its bravery award for Birmingham, which is sponsored by Axon, after Inspector Matt Baldwin nominated him.

Paul continued: “It's really nice to be recognised.

“Police officers do stuff every day that’s brave. We go to jobs not knowing what we’ll be facing or what the danger will be.

“We do it without any sort of recognition, so it’s nice that someone has taken the time to nominate me.

“Through all of the brave acts that have happened, that I was selected is humbling.”

The award will be presented at West Midlands Police Federation Bravery Awards, which are sponsored by Slater and Gordon.

The awards will be held on Thursday 30 January.

READ MORE: Glenn Brabham named overall winner of 2024 Bravery Awards.