Three officers hurt in town centre violence
Three police officers were hurt when festivities turned ugly in a town centre in the early hours of Christmas Day, it emerged today.
Officers were forced to shut High Street in Stourbridge and keep people out of the town centre following the outbreak of disorder after midnight.
While trying to calm the scuffles between groups of revellers, three officers suffered minor injuries. At least one image of the disturbance surfaced on Twitter.
Police spokesman Lee Page said: "Police closed off Stourbridge High Street at around 1.30am on Christmas Day following several sporadic outbreaks of disorder.
"More than 40 officers, including dog handlers, were in attendance at the height of the disturbance, which ended at 2am when the crowds dispersed.
"Three officers suffered minor injuries during the scuffles and a 19-year-old man was arrested. He later received a caution for assaulting a police officer.
"CCTV footage is now being reviewed as part of an investigation to identify those involved in the trouble."
Stourbridge Inspector Dez Lambert said: "I am glad no-one got seriously hurt. This was not a typical night in the town centre. He added: "In any area where there is drinking involved there is an element of people drinking too much and it can turn into trouble.
"But what we can do is have dedicated teams looking after that area to ensure whenever it does happen we can look after people's safety. Stourbridge remains a safe place to go out in the evenings."
Louan Rutherford, manager at Moochers in New Road, said: "We are a venue which gets no trouble – we are not in the town centre itself so often escape this sort of thing, but this is rare for Stourbridge, for something of this size to kick off in the town, it is unusual."
