Derbyshire cop nominated for national bravery award after saving colleague being choked during vicious assault

The incident took place when police constables Laura Nicholson and Adam Podam were called to a property, and upon arrival, faced a man and his son – who were immediately aggressive to them.

After being hit over the head by the son, Adam found himself in a headlock by the dad, who was strangling him. It was then that Laura quickly realised she needed to do whatever she could to stop the attack.

“We walked into the property to find a woman looking distressed. The next thing I know, this man – who we now know is the son – came out of nowhere and hit Adam over the head with a motorbike helmet. I was hit too,” said Laura, who then used her incapacitant spray to repel the son, before activating her emergency button to call for help.

“The son ran off, but the dad managed to get Adam held by the throat, in a headlock. I could hear Adam gurgling, the dad was choking him.”

As well as trying to use her incapacitant spray on the offender, 40-year-old Laura also tried to detain him by hitting him with her baton.

“The spray did absolutely nothing, which was very unusual. It literally had no impact. This guy was a lot stronger than he looked – it was unreal,” continued mother-of-two Laura, who joined Derbyshire Police in 2018.

“We then all fell over and the offender was trying to get my baton off me. At this point, I could hear that Adam was still choking, and the man was also threatening me. If he managed to get the baton off me, I think he would've killed me.

“I decided to try and negotiate with him. I just needed to stop him, not just for Adam’s sake but mine. I remember thinking, this man might beat us both to death. I couldn’t fail. I suddenly felt very alone and vulnerable. Eventually he did let go.”

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Having been released from the headlock, Adam eventually came around. Laura said: “We all just stood there, it was the weirdest experience. I just needed everyone to remain still because I knew backup was on its way.

“Back-up eventually arrived, and a lot of them, so they managed to detain the offender properly.”

Laura added that it was ‘really nice to be recognised’ at this year’s national Police Bravery Awards, which will take place on Thursday, July 13.