A Nottinghamshire Police officer has shared how he feared for his life after being stabbed three times by a Nottingham teenager. Sergeant Dan Griffin was seriously injured after a suspect he had stopped to question in the street attacked him with a knife in North Sherwood Street, the Arboretum on April 25, 2022.
Kai Green went on to stab Sgt Griffin three times, two times in the back of his leg and once in the chest, before the officer managed to wrestle his attacker to the ground. More officers arrived to help detain Green, as Sgt Griffin started to feel blood running into his trouser leg.
“A lot of people describe it as like being punched but I knew immediately that I’d been stabbed,” he said.
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“When you get hit and you feel that pain, it's very sobering. You know exactly what's happened and a whole host of things go through your mind.
“My heart was racing but I could feel blood running down my trouser leg and gathering in a pool around my boot, so I knew it was a bad wound and there was a lot of blood loss.
“And again, it's kind of sobering because you don't know what's happening, you don't know what kind of injury you've got, so the only thing you can think about is loved ones.”
Green, 18, was handed an eight-year sentence last December for the attack in North Sherwood Street, the Arboretum.
A police officer of ten years, Sgt Griffin admits the frightening ordeal did make him reconsider whether he wanted to carry on in the role anymore. He said: “I was scared to be honest when it happened – I’ve never been in that situation before and I don’t want to be in that situation again.
“It did make me reconsider coming back to work and being a police officer, but to be honest, this is the job I signed up to and I’m not the sort of person to shrink away from that. Although the wounds were deep, they did heal relatively quickly, but the psychological impact took quite some time – you remove the uniform and you’re still a person underneath.
“We hear the term of police family and it is true. Everybody has played their role within the organisation to support me. My colleagues have been rocks, ultimately."
After a short break away Sgt Griffin, whose actions have seen him named as a nominee for the Police Federation's national Bravery Awards, visited the scene of his attack when he did return. Inspector Ben Lawrence, who leads the City Central neighbourhood policing team, said: "What Dan went through that night was completely unacceptable and no police officer or anyone else should ever have to go through something like that.
"He showed incredible bravery that night to detain a suspect. Despite his injuries, which were serious, he remained with the suspect and was able to detain him following quite a struggle.
"It's not just that, it's the way that Dan has returned to work. We're incredibly proud of him and he's displayed incredible resilience.
"He's an absolute credit to us at the City Central neighbourhood policing team and to the wider Nottinghamshire Police family." Sgt Griffin chose to speak about the unprovoked attack on him as part of the lead up to a national week of action focused on preventing and tackling knife crime, known as Operation Sceptre, which runs from May 15 until May 21.
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