TWO police officers were taken to hospital after a fracas outside a Walkden shopping mall on Monday night.

The two police officers were confronted by a large group of youths outside Ellesmere Retail Park and during a struggle both were hurt.

The police officers had gone to investigate at around 8.50pm on Monday 19 February after reports of lights being smashed and bottles being thrown in the car park near to Tesco in Walkden, Salford.

One officer suffered a broken ankle and was today in hospital requiring surgery and the other suffered back and nerve damage but has since been released.

Superintendent Howard Millington of GMP’s Salford borough, said:

”It is absolutely disgraceful that two of our hard-working officers have been injured when they were simply doing their job.

“This incident shows how committed our officers are to protecting the people of Salford and the injuries they have suffered are completely unacceptable.

“We will do everything we can to bring the people responsible to justice and we are currently following a number of lines of enquiry to identify all those involved.

“We have also increased patrols in the area and are using our powers to try and prevent any further incidents from happening.

“This targeted approach means any youths found congregating in the area will be moved on by our officers and we will continue to use these powers over the next coming days to specifically identify any individuals causing issues.

“If you were part of the crowd last night, or know something that could help with our investigation, please do the right thing and contact police at the earliest possible opportunity.

“We know a lot of the disorder was filmed on phones and is likely to be shared around. If you have any footage or are aware of any then please make police aware immediately.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police 101, quoting incident number 2069 of 19/02/18. Reports can also be made anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

A 14-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of assaulting two police officers and criminal damage was later bailed.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *