"This was the end for me" - police officer relives night a bleed on the brain outside a Blackpool bar nearly killed him
PC Ashley Aspinall is back on the frontline in the town. He spent 11 days in hospital and needed treatment for four months after Ian Scott assaulted him both physically and verbally. Warning: Contains video and images some readers may find distressing.
A police officer knocked to the floor trying to break up an incident in Chapel Street has told of his near-death experience.
Surrounded by colleagues PC Ashley Aspinall feared he may die at the scene and spent 11 days in hospital after suffering a bleed on the brain.
PC Aspinall has spoken about the months of recovery needed after he was injured trying to detain Ian Scott whose drunken behaviour had deteriorated outside a Blackpool bar.
In a statement to the courts, PC Aspinall said: “I have suffered a significant emotional impact as a result of this incident. I remember my thoughts at the time where I was genuinely convinced that I was going to die and had mentally made peace with that.
“I thought about the good experiences I had had in life and gave up on myself in that moment. The only thing that kept me going was thinking about my daughter and seeing her again. I thought about taking her to the first day of school, her school prom and all the opportunities that were yet to come that I wanted to make it to. This was the only thing that kept me fighting and kept my mind off the sheer pain I was in.
“I can’t stress enough how much I thought I was going to die in this moment and that this was the end for me.
“I recall the tones of the voices of the paramedics who were tending to me. The fear in their voices of the level of injury I had sustained was piercing. I didn’t know what injuries I had at the time and therefore couldn’t understand what had happened. The situation felt surreal, but hearing the paramedics speak about it made it feel real. The paramedics sounded scared and concerned. I recognised the paramedic’s voice from working with her in the past, therefore hearing her panic I knew it was serious. They informed me at a later date that had this incident happened in the day, they would have called a heli-med due to my urgent need for medical attention.
“I recall trying to communicate with my colleagues whilst I was on the floor and my brain not functioning. I kept calling my colleagues by the wrong names whilst fully being aware of their names.
“Since the incident, I keep reliving it in my head trying to understand if there is anything I did that could have triggered this incident and I honestly believed that I didn’t. I followed the police protocols and policies, including the five-step appeal, before making the decision to arrest the male. I don’t believe any of my actions that day warranted this level of injury.”
Some of the pictures below which show PC Aspinall's injuries some readers may find distressing
How PC Aspinall was injured and what happened to Ian Scott
PC Aspinall and his colleagues came across 50-year-old Scott while attending another incident in Blackpool during 7 April last year.
Scott had been thrown out of a bar in Chapel Street and was being abusing to door staff and was trying to get back into the bar to retrieve his phone.
While police colleagues went to retrieve the phone, Scott's drunken behaviour became worse and he became increasingly verbally abusive.
Following a number of warnings attempts were made to detain and arrest him, this is when PC Aspinall ended up on the pavement with Scott on top of him.
Police say as PC Aspinall lay on the floor losing consciousness with blood coming from the back of his head Scott continued volleys of verbal abuse.
Scott, 50, of Cavendish Road, Bispham, was arrested and later charged with a Section 18 Assault and assaulting a police officer. He pleaded guilty to a Section 20 wounding of an emergency service worker.
He admitted those offences and appeared in the dock at Preston Crown Court last month (30th July) where he was given a 24-month suspended sentence. He was also ordered to complete a 120-day alcohol abstinence requirement, complete 15 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, pay £1,500 compensation, and undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.
"My officers are not simply a uniform"
Chief Constable, Sacha Hatchett, said: "This is an alarming case in which a dedicated and committed police officer suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of being assaulted while on duty.
“Thankfully, Ash has made a good recovery, and that is in no small part to the quick-thinking actions of his colleagues. They are all a credit to Lancashire Constabulary.
“Assaults on our officers will never be acceptable. They are not – and must never be seen as – part of the job. As a society, we cannot normalise them.
“My officers are mums, dads, sons, daughters, aunties and uncles. They are not simply a uniform.
“We are seeing an ever-increasing rise in the number of assaults on emergency workers, and something has to change to deter the perpetrators from seeing this abhorrent behaviour as acceptable.
“I don’t want the families of my officers sitting at home, wondering if their loved one is going to come home.
“Anyone who has seen the footage from the night or heard Ash’s harrowing victim impact statement will understand why I am saddened at the sentence handed down to Ian Scott.
“When police officers are assaulted – and the level of injury is of the serious nature caused in this case – the offender should expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence.”
There's lots of ways you can support our work as The Blackpool Lead, from a one-off donation, to a monthly payment through to shopping for The Lead branded merchandise too. It all helps support our independent, in-depth, journalism.
Our features, investigations and essays are available to subscribers first.
We want to back into journalism. Lend us a hand, and get our weekly newsletter and magazine editions in your inbox, for free.
