I Was There

I was there when it happened...

I was there when the old man held the knife to his own throat, wanting to end it all.

I was there when the unsuspecting family heard the news that their son wasn’t coming home.

It was me who told them.

I was there when the medics tried desperately - and hopelessly - to save the life of the domestic stabbing victim.

I was there when the red blanket was placed gently over the body of the innocent man lying in the middle of the road.

I was there when they cut the teenage suspect out of the car, his right leg snapped clean in half.

I was there in the Fish & Chip shop as the owner lay on the floor fighting for breath and life, shotgun wounds peppering his torso.

I was there in the front of the car, cradling the head of a colleague who had been mown down by the driver of a stolen Range Rover.

I thought he was going to die in my arms.

I was there when the snipers took up their positions on the rooftops.

I was there in Parliament Square when the protesters tried to storm the House.

I was there when the mourners wailed and sang hymns on the street where he fell.

I was there by the Away Fans when the bottle hit me in the face.

I was there in the hours before dawn, when the man with a meat cleaver was threatening chaos.

I was there outside Shepherd’s Bush Green Underground Station as the abandoned rucksack lay on the platform, giving off puffs of smoke.

I was there in the mortuary, staring at the body lying under unforgiving light.

I was there when we took the child into police protection.

I was there when the cordons went in.

I was there when the boredom set in.

I was there when my colleague broke down and wept, undone by the horror of it all.

I was there when they discovered the charred body in the burned out flat.

I was there when the suspect threw the punch.

But I didn’t see it coming.

I was there when the shout for Urgent Assistance was heard.

I was there on the 17th floor, talking to the stranger standing out on the window ledge.

I was there when the shots were fired.

I was there when the funeral cortege pulled up in front of the church.

I was there in the middle of winter; in the middle of the night; in the middle of the downpour; in the middle of the crowd; in the middle of the sadness; in the middle of nowhere; in the middle of the laughter; in the middle of the carnage; in the middle of the fight; in the middle of the banter; in the middle of the rescue; in the middle of it all.

I was there.