A POLICE officer has expressed his gratitude at the provision of spit hoods, after being bitten three times, punched and spat at when responding to an incident in Stonehouse.

Chief inspector Steve Lindsay MBE was part of a team which responded to reports of a man found unconscious in Stonehouse over the weekend.

As well as the attacks on police officers, a female paramedic was punched in the face during the incident.

Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, chief inspector Lindsay said: "We were called to an incident in Stonehouse where there was a gathering, or a house party, after receiving reports of a male who was believed to be unconscious.

"He was not found unconscious when we got there but had a slight head injury so an ambulance was called.

"He was quite abusive to the ambulance and the paramedics, spitting at us a couple of times.

"We managed to get him to hospital, however when he arrived at Gloucestershire Royal he started getting very aggressive, attacked two female paramedics and bit me three times, spitting at us and punching us "It was horrific actually."

In a tweet, chief inspector Lindsay thanked Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl for the provision of spit hoods, noting that they are a "great tool" and that they had ensured more officers weren't spat at and bitten in the incident in Stonehouse.

In a separate incident in Stroud at the weekend, a man who was self-isolating was arrested on Saturday night after allegedly deliberately coughing in the face of a paramedic in Stroud.

Jonathan Brunsdon, 43, appeared before Cheltenham Magistrates today via video link from Gloucestershire Police’s custody suite and pleaded not guilty to threatening to infect paramedic Shaun Helbrow, with COVID-19 at 10.45pm on Saturday.