Arrests as police officers strangled and assaulted

Three officers were hurt in one incident with a fourth officer injured in a separate attack

Three police officers were attacked when they attended a disturbance at a house.

Two of the officers were strangled and another man also injured when police were called to reports of a disturbance at a house near Corporation Street, in Stoke-on-Trent at 00:20 BST on Thursday.

The three officers and a man, in his 50s, all received treatment in hospital.

A 33-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent has been charged with one count of assault ing an emergency worker, two of intentional strangulation, and one of assault.

Staffordshire Police said the officers had tried to arrest a man but both got thrown to the floor and strangled.

"One of the officers also suffered an elbow injury and the other had a shoulder injury," a statement said,

"Another officer, who arrived to support the two officers, suffered a sprained ankle."

Chief Constable Chris Noble condemned the attack and also a second separate incident in which a female officer needed hospital treatment after being assaulted.

The officer was responding to an incident at Tunstall Cemetery on Thursday when she was assaulted, the force said.

A 42-year-old man, from Stoke-on-Trent, has been arrested on suspicion of assault on an emergency worker and remains in custody.

Mr Noble described the incidents as "shocking".

"These are real people, serving their communities, who don't deserve to be assaulted just for just doing their job," he said.