Maranoa police officer stabbed while attending domestic violence incident

A police officer has been flown to a Brisbane hospital for specialist treatment after he was stabbed while responding to a domestic dispute in the state’s west early on Saturday.

The male constable was taken to Roma Hospital.

A police officer has been flown to a Brisbane hospital for specialist treatment after he was stabbed while responding to a “violent domestic” in the Maranoa region on Saturday morning.

The 30-year-old male constable was allegedly stabbed with a pair of scissors during a “violent struggle” with a 35-year-old man at a private residence in Roma about 7am.

The male constable’s lung was reportedly punctured after he was stabbed under the armpit. He was taken to Roma Hospital in a stable condition and subsequently flown to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital for specialist treatment.

Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior confirmed a second officer – another male constable – also sustained a dislocated shoulder and ligament damage.

The second constable, aged 28, was also taken to Roma Hospital.

“This morning at Roma, police were called to a violent domestic, when they arrived they saw a female distressed with physical injuries and male person running from the scene,” he said.

“They called for backup and gave chase. During that struggle one of our officers was stabbed; he bravely fought through that and effected the arrest. Backup officers arrived and one of those officer’s shoulders was dislocated.”

A 35-year-old Roma man was arrested at the scene and has been charged with one count each of acts intended to prevent lawful detention, escaping lawful custody, and serious assault of a police officer.

He will appear in the Roma Magistrates Court on Monday.

Mr Prior said the constable who was stabbed was a “very well-respected officer” in his second year.

“He had a stab wound to his upper torso … I know for a fact that tactical first aid is what saved his life,” he said. “Our police are active targets in the community for violence and enough is enough. This is no respect for police any more, there is no respect for frontline workers.”

The stabbing comes less than a week after Mr Prior revealed that burnt-out cops were being forced to chuck “sickies” just to recuperate, as youth crime and domestic and family violence call-outs exploded across the state.

Mr Prior said officers attended 192,000 domestic and family violence call-outs in the last year while psychological injury claims were up 129 per cent.

“Domestic and family violence is by far our biggest demand driver for service but on top of that is youth crime,” he said.

Mr Prior said officers had up to 18 days of “unplanned” sick leave – or “sickies” – every year.

“Sickies by police who are stressed, who are under pressure ... should be a concern because our police mentally cannot cope with the job and if we do not do something now we are going to have a burnt-out service.”

Originally published as Maranoa police officer stabbed while attending domestic violence incident