An off-duty police officer disarmed a man with a hammer and tackled another who claimed he was making explosives. PC Eryn Towns stopped the hammer-wielding man by getting the weapon away from him before on-duty officers detained him. In a separate incident, PC Towns tackled and detained another man wielding a knife and hammer who claimed he was making explosives and targeting police officers.
The young officer was one of a number of Sussex Police staff to be given bravery awards. PC Towns had leapt into action while on his way to work for a night shift in October 2023. After spotting the man with a hammer in Bersted Street, Bognor, he called 999 for backup and engaged with the man to get the weapon away from him.
Then in April this year, PC Towns and a colleague tackled and detained a man in East Street, Littlehampton. The man had claimed to be making explosives and targeting police. He was found with a hammer, a knife and bleach.
From left: Deputy Lieutenant Harry Goring, PC Joanna Hutchins, PC Teagen Cornell, Chief Inspector Will Keating-Jones (Image: Sussex Police) Several police officers were honoured for their work at the West Sussex Divisional Awards on September 30. They included PCs Teagan Cornell and Joanna Hutchins, who gave life-saving CPR to a man while completing licensing checks at a pub in Bognor. PC Shane Meech and member of the public Neil Boniface also received bravery awards after finding a man on a bridge in Harwood Road, Horsham, and stopping him from com.