The 18th of June 2016 will be a day that will be ingrained in my memory for a while to come now. Today, I recieved a commendation from the British Transport Police for assisting in the arrest of an armed individual who was fleeing from police. He was carrying a claw ended axe roughly 18 inches in length but whilst he was running, He had concealed it under his jacket.

He came running in my direction and the police could not catch up whilst wearing all their gear, I noticed this therefore, without hesitation, I took it upon myself to tackle and restrain the man until they did. Tasers drawn, the officers shouted "GET ON THE FLOOR NOW" to him, I released him thinking (like any sane person) that he would comply to avoid getting tasered but he kept on running desperate to get away, 20 yards further up he was shot and fell straight to the floor in the centre of the Bull Ring, the main city centre shopping centre in Birmingham, hundreds of people gathered to gawk and film the incident and generally get in the way.

After the commotion died down and the man was arrested and taken away in a van, my details were taken and I didn't hear anything more of it until 11 months later. I only just found out that the incident was reported on by Sky News and (unfortunately, but at least they did a good job) The Sun where they keep referring to me as a "Have a go hero" the article and CCTV footage from the incident can be found here https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/29583.....gham-shoppers/ and this is the certificate I recieved https://twitter.com/Dalesly1/status.....73233500008448

In the article, the Police said that "While we are extremely grateful to the member of public who intervened, this is not something we would advise people do because, as this incident shows, you never know what a fleeing suspect might have on them." Which is 100% true but it only takes one person's actions to potentially save multiple people from harm and I'm glad I was that person.