The images show the terrifying moment when a man spontaneously attacked two police officers while they were walking through a busy night party area.
The officer was assaulted on Adelaide’s busy Hindley Street about 12.45am on Sunday by a man who threw a mobile phone at him before grabbing the officer’s service pistol.
CCTV view from the street shows the man walking towards the officer and brutally brandishing his fist at the police officer.
After a brief struggle, the two officers appeared to have the man under control, trapped between them.
But in front of the curious who were a few meters away, the man grabbed the officer’s holster and tried to take out his weapon, which could have ended in a catastrophe.
South Australian police said one of the officers was injured in the melee and “suffered a cut to the head.”
“Capsicum spray was used to arrest the man,” a South African police spokesperson said.
Two officers struggled to control a man who threw his phone at one of them and punched him.
Officers worked to wrestle the man to the ground, but in the process the man attempted to grab a police gun from its holster.
The police union said the two officers involved in the attack were not supposed to be on duty Sunday night, but had offered their help amid a critical shortage of available officers.
Wade Burns of the South African Police Association said 7News The two officers stopped what could have been a tragedy.
“Only thanks to the excellent work of our police officers did they avoid what could have been an absolute disaster,” Mr Burns said.
“They were working in the CBD to complement the understaffed policing model that exists in Hindley Street and the greater CBD area.”
A 25-year-old Blakeview man was arrested and charged with assaulting a prescribed emergency worker and throwing a missile.
The man was released on bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on December 20.