Sergeant in dog attack rescue in line for award

A police sergeant who saved a woman from a savage dog attack in Yardley is in the running for a national police bravery award.

Sgt Paul Williams, from West Midlands Police, responded alone to an emergency call on 23 May 2023 to find a woman being mauled by two large German shepherd-type dogs.

The woman had already been severely injured and was in a critical condition.

Sgt Williams first tried to use a Taser to subdue one of the dogs, but it malfunctioned. He got into his car and then got out and managed to incapacitate one dog with his Taser, even though one of the animals bit him on his arm.

Sgt Williams said he arrived to find the woman "on the floor, motionless, being really savagely attacked by two dogs".

He said: "You don't really have time to think. I had a Taser on me. I had two shots in the Taser, so quick plan, two dogs, two shots.

"The plan was get out, shoot the two dogs with the two cartridges in my Taser, save the woman, that's as far as it went."

After the first shot malfunctioned, he said the dogs ran towards him.

He got in the car to examine the Taser.

As the dogs ran straight back to the woman, he got out again and tried again.

"I took aim on the dog that was attached to the female, shot that dog, which dropped," he said.

But he added: "The second dog ran at me, jumped up and latched on to my arm."

As he fought off the second dog, the first dog got up "yelping and screaming" after the Taser and ran off, with the second dog following, he said.

He said another police car arrived and took the woman, who had "horrific injuries", straight to hospital with blue lights on, because there was not time for an ambulance.

She spent four weeks in intensive care.

The Police Bravery Awards 2025, an annual event by the Police Federation, will be announced on 10 July.

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