September 2002 Volume 83 Number 9 "serving the protectors"
Luckily unscathed
By Brett Williams

When a dangerous armed offender tried to flee the scene of a vicious street stabbing, two local cops responded in an instant. But neither knew just what a threat he was about to confront.

Street-side café diners screamed as Allan Cuk and Alan McLaren struggled with a knife-wielding assault suspect on a Glenelg footpath almost two years ago. The warm evening, two days before Christmas, had brought hundreds to the popular beachside dining precinct.

But these bystanders – now so close to a violent struggle, and clearly at risk – reeled back, as the two cops fought to disarm Kazem Ameri.

With his eyes full of rage, and a vice-like grip on his short-bladed knife, Ameri refused to surrender. And, while the officers suspected him of one stabbing, they did not then know he had knifed two victims.

Word of the first stabbing had reached Cuk and McLaren at the Glenelg police station only moments earlier. The pair had clambered into a patrol car and charged toward the Colley Tce-Jetty Rd roundabout. There, the officers burst out of their car, as passers-by frantically pointed out the fleeing Ameri to them.

McLaren could see Ameri’s knife “glistening in the sun”. “I could see the reflection of it,” he says. “It was quite clear what he had in his hand.”

With no time to waste closing the patrol car doors, or even switching off the engine, Cuk and McLaren sprinted away after Ameri.

“As soon as he saw the police vehicle,” says Cuk, “he ducked in towards the (southern) footpath, where the crowd was. There were so many people there, and they were all getting out of the way.”

So a desperate chase west along the packed Jetty Rd footpath had begun. Cuk – from the eastern end of the dining strip – ran directly after Ameri. McLaren ran around the street side of a fence line which bounded the same area. He figured that, if he charged into the fenced-off eatery from the west, he and Cuk could “trap” the armed Ameri inside.

Within a moment, Cuk and McLaren were set to move in on Ameri from opposite ends of the filled-to-capacity dining area. But, suddenly, up from his chair at a dining table jumped a bystander. This local hotel bouncer had been taking a break from his work, and had seen the chase ensue.

In a move reminiscent of the “coat hanger” – for which an AFL player would today cop six matches – the black-suited bouncer knocked Ameri to the ground. But his gallantry came at a price.

Says McLaren: “He put his arm out to stop this bloke, and it spun him (Ameri) around. He still had the knife in his hand and, as he spun around, it stabbed him (the bouncer) in his upper thigh.”

Clutching his leg, the bouncer staggered away from Ameri, who was now lying face-up on the ground – but still holding his knife.

Blood flowed from the bouncer’s wound but was not instantly noticeable against his dark suit. Later, in hospital, he would receive several sutures. “The knife just missed a main artery,” says Cuk, “so he was very lucky.”

Meanwhile, the two officers had, within seconds, reached Ameri where he lay on the footpath with his knife raised. Both cops dived on him – despite the obvious risk of stabbing to themselves – as they bellowed commands to “drop the knife”.

“People around us and in the restaurants were backing off,” says McLaren, who, with his foot, secured Ameri’s knife hand to the ground. “I was still yelling: ‘Drop the knife’, but he wasn’t responding.”

As Cuk tried to hold the writhing Ameri down, McLaren drew his baton, with which he tried to knock the knife free. But Ameri somehow grabbed the baton with his other hand. McLaren quickly snatched it back and, with both his hands, took hold of Ameri’s wrist.

For what seemed “an eternity”, the violent struggle continued, as both cops kept yelling commands to drop the knife. “But there was no way he was going to drop that knife,” says Cuk. And McLaren was in no way able to “pull it out of his hand”.

In the background at the same time, adding to the tenseness of the drama, were three young men with whom Ameri had earlier quarrelled. One was his first victim, and all three wanted to “get stuck into him”.

But by now, back-up police officers were starting to arrive on the scene. Some held the three young men at bay, while another charged in to help Cuk and McLaren. Senior Constable Michael Osborne drew – from McLaren’s belt – an OC canister, with which he sprayed Ameri’s face.

“At around that point,” says McLaren, “the knife finally came out of his hand. I remember picking it up and pushing it to the side.”

Then, with Ameri under control, the officers handcuffed and arrested him. They had brought safety back to the street, and would take Ameri away to be treated and later charged.

Only on later reflection would Cuk and McLaren see the great danger into which they had launched themselves. Today, they realize they “could even have been fatally injured”.

“We had experience on our side,” says Cuk. “We knew that we were confident in each other, and could resolve it.

“You’d think that, on a Saturday evening at Glenelg, there’s no way that incident would happen. But, it did, and we were lucky to get out of it unscathed.”

Police Association president, Peter Alexander, describes the two officers’ actions as not only brave, but also highly professional. “This is a good example of police responding to an incident, and putting their own safety at risk to do their job,” he says.

“We hear about many such incidents, and their potential to end in tragedy. This one was just great police work, and reflects well on both officers.

“Incidents like this should be identified so the community knows it has police who, on its behalf, will put themselves in danger.”

In recognition of their actions, Cuk and McLaren received certificates of commendation in mid-March. Each was grateful for the acknowledgement of his deed, but neither felt he had acted beyond the call of duty.

Says a humble McLaren: “It was nothing out of the ordinary. There was an offender who had to be restrained, so you just do it.”

Originally charged with two counts of unlawful wounding, Ameri pleaded guilty to carry offensive weapon and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was convicted without penalty but ordered to pay $80 in court costs.

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