PC Stephanie Clarke of the Metropolitan Police
(Picture: Metropolitan Police / Martis Media )A police officer who chased an armed robber after she was stabbed in the abdomen is nominated for a national bravery award.
Met PC Stephanie Clarke saw two masked 15-year-old boys fleeing a grocery store with the owners screaming at them in Pimlico, Westminster.
After a struggle with her colleague PC Leigh Walker, PC Clarke was knifed in the side on October 4, 2020.
The suspects wearing gloves, face masks and hooded jackets then fled the scene.
PC Clarke, thinking she had only been punched, pursued them but started bleeding heavily.
Firearms officers helped arrest the teenagers who were found hiding in the loos of a nearby Pret a Manger minutes later.
Last August, one robber, now 16 and from Barking, admitted wounding PC Clarke and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a young offender institution.
PC Clarke is in line for a National Police Bravery Award at a ceremony in London next month.
She said: “It turned out the knife had gone in about two inches, into stomach muscle, but luckily hadn’t gone into anything major.
“I found the court process tough, but afterwards I went to the young offender institution to meet the boy who had stabbed me and that was actually quite rewarding and gave me some closure. The rehabilitation process seems to have worked for him.
“I do feel really privileged to do this job and I do think you can really help people, so I’m just trying to keep doing that. But I’m really grateful for this nomination.”
Ken Marsh, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “What a courageous hero and an example of the fantastic officers we have out there on the streets every day keeping Londoners safe.
“Steph ran towards danger and I commend her immense professionalism. We are very proud of her.”
Also nominated is PC Aksit Ekrem whose hand was slashed with a sword but he still managed to arrest the attacker, 62, during a domestic incident in Dagenham on November 30, 2020.
PC Ekrem said: “I’ve never been so scared and vulnerable in my life.
“I don’t see myself as a hero or anything. I was just doing what I’m supposed to do, but it’s nice to get recognition.”
He spent five days in hospital. Unable to use his hand, PC Ekrem was off work for six months and experienced flashbacks.
PCs Ben Shaylor, Ali Khan and James Whittaker acted as human shields to save a 15-year-old girl who collapsed during a crowd crush at an illegal rave off the North Circular Road in February 2020.
As they splinted her leg, some of the 1,500 ravers hurled bricks, mortar and gas canisters at them.
