Shocking clip shows cop with bloodied nose crying after Manchester Airport brawl as bodycam footage shown to jury
A police officer has said she was “absolutely terrified” after she was floored with a punch by an attacker at Manchester Airport, as shocking footage of the aftermath was played out in court.
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Trigger warning: This article contains a video some viewers may find distressing.
Pc Lydia Ward said she had “never experienced” such violence towards her in her career, suffering a broken nose in the shocking incident at the Terminal 2 car park pay station area on July 23 last year.
Blood was "pouring out" her nose after getting hit with a "really forceful" blow which made everything go "black", the court heard.
She had been trying to stop the attacker from kicking her colleague in the head before she was punched, the jury was told.
Footage from a body worn video camera of a female police colleague was played to the jury, showing a bloodied and crying Pc Ward being comforted in the aftermath.
She and two colleagues from Greater Manchester Police had approached Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, at a ticket machine following reports a male fitting his description had headbutted a customer at Starbucks cafe in T2 arrivals.
Amaaz allegedly resisted, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, later intervened.
The court heard how he inflicted a “high level of violence” on the officers in the alleged attack.
Pc Ward said she was trying to secure the suspect and take him outside, away from the crowded area.
But Amaaz started to “tense up and resist” when she and two accompanying officers grabbed him, she said.
“Then things escalated very quickly. It just went from nought to a hundred," she told the court.
She added: “My attention was mainly on Mr Amaaz. However, I was aware the larger male, Mr Amaad, had come over and there was some sort of fracas between him and Pc Marsden and Pc Cook and they were trying to get him away so they could affect the arrest.
“I was trying to keep hold of Mr Amaaz’s arm and get it behind his back so I could get some cuffs on him.”
She said Pc Marsden fell or was pushed towards some seats and that Mr Amaaz then kicked out at her colleague.
Pc Ward said: “The man in blue started booting him, kicking him really hard, and I was trying to pull him off.
“I tried to grab him off so he could stop kicking Pc Marsden.
"All I remember then is that he turned and he punched me straight in the face.
“I can’t really remember where it landed but I know where my injuries were. I remember falling on the floor and everything went black.”
She said the punch she received was “really forceful”.
“Never in my whole time in the police service had that level of violence been used on me before. It felt really hard.
“As I came round, all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose. I was just thinking he has done something to my nose, face area, I didn’t know what has happened.”
She told prosecutors she was was "absolutely terrified" after getting her senses back.
" I had never experienced that level of violence towards me in my life.
“I didn’t know who was going to come up at me next. I was scared of going after this male again and being punched in the face again,” she said.
At one point she pressed her police radio emergency button to call for further assistance but the impact of the punch had knocked the battery out.
Other people in the pay station area were “shouting stuff” and “filming on their mobile phones”, she said.
“Nobody came to assist. I felt everyone in that room was against us. To be honest, I was terrified,” Pc Ward told the court.
Describing herself as “petite” and weighing eight stone, Pc Ward said she used her Pava incapacitant spray - similar to pepper spray - against two men who approached Mr Amaaz when he was on the floor after he was tasered by police.
“They just kept coming forward, trying to impede. I was telling them to go back and they were not listening,” she said.
Rosemary Fernandes, defending Amaaz, told Pc Ward her client was “taken by surprise” at the ticket machine and was “shocked.”
“It is important you identify yourselves as police officers, isn’t it?” Pc Ward said, adding: “I don’t think we had any time to do that. We didn’t have any time for rational discussion with this male as it turned violently quickly.”
Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.
He is also accused of the assault of Pc Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.
Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.