Officer 'nearly blinded' as coin hurled at eye outside Villa Park
A police officer narrowly avoided being blinded when a football yob pelted a coin at his eye.
The officer was injured when the coin ended up lodged in his eye outside Villa Park on Tuesday, during an evening which also saw a 14-year-old girl hit by a bottle and left with a bloody nose.
The incident, which has been dubbed by police chiefs as 'senseless', took place as Cardiff supporters were being held back in the coach car park after their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
A doctor worked to remove the coin from the officer's eye socket and despite some bleeding around the eye his cornea remained intact.
The officer is now undergoing a course of antibiotics avoid infection and ease the pain but is said to have returned to work within hours.
Inspector Nigel Sarling, from West Midlands Police, said: "It is completely unacceptable in society, let alone at a football game, to see such stupid and senseless acts.
"A teenage girl was left with a bloody nose and we don’t underestimate how traumatic an experience this will have been.
"One of our officers could quite easily have been left blinded in one eye and we will be offering our full support after what was a highly distressing situation.
"Such incidents are rare and the vast majority of football matches in our region pass off peacefully and in the right spirit. We will be doing our utmost to discover who was behind such cowardly acts."
Investigations have been launched by West Midlands Police following the incident.
