Man gives up haircut to help officer under attack

A man getting his hair cut jumped from the barber’s chair and ran to the aid of a police officer who was being pinned to the ground in a headlock.

Kyle Whiting was trimming at Aaron’s Barbers in Warrington, Cheshire, when he looked through the window and encountered the officer.

The 32-year-old man ran out of the shop with the barber’s hat still draped over his shoulders – before the man was pulled over by the officer giving him time to handcuff the suspect.

Mobile phone footage of the incident was shared on social media, with people praising “Barbershop Batman”, “Haircut Hero” and “Caped Crusader”.

Mr Whiting, whose sister is a police officer, said he was there only by chance after taking his girlfriend to the A&E unit at nearby Warrington Hospital.

He said he realized something was wrong when he saw the barber getting distracted by the commotion outside.

He said: “Before you knew it, my hairdresser had taken out his phone and gone over to the window and started recording.

“Then I saw the guy outside swing at the police officer and knock him to the ground.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to sit back and watch this.’

Mr Whiting said he was thinking about his sister and thought it was about “putting yourself in other people’s shoes”.

He said, “If she were my sister, I would hope that no one would hesitate to help her if she was alone.”

“So before you know it, I’m out the door.”

Another officer and members of the public soon arrived to help – enabling Mr Whiting to return to the barber’s chair to complete his job.

In a coincidence, Mr Whiting later saw the police officer sitting next to his girlfriend in the A&E unit, waiting for an X-ray of his broken finger.

Cheshire Constabulary thanked Mr Whiting for his support during the incident on 16 December.

The force said: “A 50-year-old man was subsequently arrested in connection with this case and has since been handed over to the care of health professionals.”

Video of the incident shared by Mr Whiting’s sister has received more than 400,000 views on Instagram and Facebook and more than 50,000 likes.