WARNING: The video included in this story contains graphic content which may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

by Katherine Renton

Two Vincentians are said to have been the first persons to assist a British police constable who was bleeding out on the streets of London after being chopped multiple times in the head on August 8.

Kimran Roache, a 34-year-old resident of East London, and Kwesi ‘Charlie’ Young, a 22-year-old Layou resident, spoke to SEARCHLIGHT yesterday about an attack that they witnessed which took place close to midnight on August 8.

Roache has resided in the UK since he was 15 years old, while Young is there on vacation.

According to accounts from the two, their group of three was walking in Leyton, going to the shops to get something to eat, when they saw what was happening between two police officers of the Metropolitan Police Service and the driver of a vehicle.

Apparently, although the officers had stopped this vehicle, the driver drove off again, before stopping for a second time some distance away.

“I told him (Young) to start filming because when we saw what we saw, like I just thought something was gonna happen and I was right,” Roache recalled.

“I’ve been living here that long. So when police stop you, and you drive off, it don’t end well,” he explained, commenting that you can’t drive off on police.

In the video, that has been circulating on social media, the people filming appear to be running up to the vehicle just as the driver starts lashing out at the officers who were apparently trying to get him out of his vehicle.

The videographer goes to the other side of the vehicle just as the male officer, later identified by the Metropolitan Police as 28-year-old PC Stuart Outten, succeeds in using a taser to subdue his attacker. The officer’s blood already covers him as he calls to those filming, who are asking if he is alright. Outten points and asks these men to bring his radio for him.

Meanwhile, a female officer takes away a cutlass from the attacker, before standing on the pavement.

Young brings the radio for the male officer, and the constable calls for an ambulance, saying that he has been stabbed. Less than a minute later, just as Roache is using his jacket, assisted by Young, to stem the blood pouring onto the road from the male officer’s head, an ambulance arrives.

“I was alright until the after effects like when they finally put him down on the floor and he’s there screaming for help and all that and asked us to assist him with his radio,” Roache stated, noting that he realized then that the situation was serious.

“He was seriously hurt, he was going in to shock and all,” the East London resident disclosed.

“I’ve seen these things happening before, I’ve got a friend that got stabbed before, so I kinda know when you lose a certain amount of blood you start going in to a little shock or whatever. So what I was doing when I was there, I was talking to him, telling him he’s alright,” Roache revealed.

When asked why they decided to help, the 34-year-old said: “I couldn’t just walk off, wake up in the morning and find out right, he passed away,” and know that he could have done something about it.

https://youtu.be/bKJ1a2iOGDY

“He’s a human being, he’s leaking, he’s bleeding, I saw what happened, I couldn’t just leave him there, basically, to bleed out,” he revealed.

“Even though a lot of people thinking I shoulda cause he’s white, and this country’s a bit racist, you know what I’m saying, but I gotta look past all that,” he added, saying that the constable was a human being at the end of the day.

Therefore, Roache applied pressure as best he could, based on knowledge he says he received from his aunt, who is a nurse.

Young, who will return to St Vincent and the Grenadines by the end of the month, revealed that they helped Outten because “he was losing a lot of blood and couldn’t really move, so either we helped him or we left him there to bleed out.” He also noted that the female officer, who could not be seen in the video after she took away the cutlass, seemed to be in shock.

Young said that it appeared that Outten received four blows to his head, and Roache could not see all of them, so he also helped to stem the blood flow.

He said that the incident was a surprise to him, as he had just been in the UK for around three days before the attack.

A release from the Metropolitan Police Service states that Muhammed Rodwan, 56 years old, has been charged with attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon. He appeared at the Thames Magistrate’s Court.

The police also issued a statement from the family of the injured officer which states that they are “overwhelmed” by the support that they received from the public, Outten’s colleagues and the “wider policing family.”

“We are incredibly proud of the bravery Stuart showed during the incident. His injuries could have been fatal and we are thankful that he is stable and recovering in hospital with his loved ones around him,” the release from the family indicated.

His family described Outten as someone who loves his job, and protecting the public.

Since this statement, PC Outten has been discharged from the hospital.