A policeman is lucky to be alive after a thug stabbed him in the head with such force the blade snapped off – and became embedded in his SKULL.
Brave Pc Keiron Harriman, 42, was left with a 3cm-long tip of a kitchen knife lodged close to a main artery in his head.
Incredibly, Pc Harriman – who survived despite not wearing a helmet – only discovered the blade was still in his skull TWO WEEKS later.
And, following a four hour operation to remove the fragment from his head, he was back on the beat just three weeks after the attack.
Pc Harriman, who has been an officer with Leicestershire Police for four years, has now received the Chief Constable’s Commendation for bravery.
Today the divorced dad-of-two from Hinckley, Leics., said: ”There’s no two ways about it, I was incredibly lucky.
”If it had been a better quality knife it could have pierced my skull even further and I would have been in real trouble.
”At first I thought I’d been punched in the head and thought nothing of it but when I felt blood dribbling down my face I knew it was serious and started to panic.
”I went to the hospital and they glued up the wound and sent me home but I was walking around with a big lump on my head which didn’t go down.
”I went to my local GP who sent me for an x-ray and they discovered part of the knife was still in my head, it was shocking really.
”My pals at the station joke and said I survived because of my thick head.”
Pc Harriman was attacked as he attempted to arrest suspected burglar Arron Cox 24, during a routine call-out in Barwell, Leics., on January 30.
But Cox dodged past as Pc Harriman went to cuff him and plunged one of the two eight-inch kitchen knives he was holding into the officers head.
He was finally arrested when Pc Harriman’s partner Pc Michael Statt, 34, sprayed him with Captor spray and disarmed him using his baton.
Pc Statt, who also received a commendation for bravery, said: ”Had things been the other way around Keiron would have done exactly the same thing.
”The suspect was frenzied and kept coming for both us. He was holding a knife in each hand and I just thought, ‘I’m going to get stabbed and it’s going to hurt’.
”Luckily I was able to disarm him with the baton and spray before we arrested him.”
On Monday Pc Harriman received a Chief Constable’s Commendation at a special ceremony alongside 16 other officers, staff and even two police dogs.
Cox appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday where he admitted grievous bodily harm with intent to resist arrest and affray.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on September 1.
