An officer who was off duty when he single-handedly broke up a vicious fight involving up to 20 people has won a London Police Bravery Award.
On Thursday 25 April 2024, PC Mohammed Raja was off duty and driving along Southall High Street with his family when he saw plumes of grey smoke and a group of people coming out of a pub.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a large fight, spilling out onto the road and causing an obstruction.
Around 15 to 20 people were using weapons, including sticks, chairs, other pieces of furniture and even a fire extinguisher, which was where the smoke was coming from.
PC Raja immediately placed himself on duty and called the incident in on 999. Recognising the imminent risk, rather than staying in his vehicle and waiting for local units, PC Raja ran towards the fight in order to save life and limb, provide first aid, and prevent further injuries.
Clearly outnumbered, PC Raja used his tactical communication skills to challenge the assailants and attempt to break up the fight.
He recalled: “My main concern was preservation of life. I targeted those who were hitting people with weapons, because they posed the most risk and were doing the most harm. I then started grabbing people and pushing them away, giving verbal commands, identifying myself as a police officer because I was in plain clothes, and shouting, ‘Police!’.
“I was also relaying information to the 999 operator. I gave my location and described the scene unfolding in front of me, while trying to actively deal with it as well. It was quite difficult.
“I managed to break up a few fights and then I saw a pool of blood leading from the pub to the pavement. My thinking was: this pool of blood suggests there’s someone seriously injured behind the closed doors of the pub.”
“As a police officer, the first thing is the preservation of life, so I left the suspects, who were starting to flee, and entered the pub.”
At first the staff wouldn’t let him in, believing he was one of the brawlers, so PC Raja showed them his warrant card. They let him in and he asked if anyone was injured inside the pub. Thankfully, the staff were unharmed and the blood had come from the group of men who had been fighting among themselves.
PC Raja stayed on scene until uniformed, on-duty colleagues arrived; he provided a briefing and handover, however no arrests came of it and the investigation was concluded.
He said: “Looking back on it, I did put myself in a dangerous situation. But I just thought, due to the immediate danger this group was posing and the fact that they were using weapons, I couldn’t stand aside. It was a natural instinct to help and do the best that I could in that situation. I didn’t want members of the public to be further impacted by this, and I just wanted to protect life, at the end of the day.”
When he heard he had won a London Police Bravery Award, PC Raja said: “I was shocked, but it’s a humbling privilege. It’s a lovely thing to be recognised, but ultimately I was just doing my job and duty as a police officer.”
Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “Mohammed placed himself at huge risk in order to prevent further injuries and damage. This would have been a challenging incident, even for a team of officers with protective equipment.
“Mohammed was alone with no support, yet demonstrated a huge amount of bravery, professionalism and tenacity. He’s a credit to the uniform and we are very proud of him. He’s a very worthy winner of a London Police Bravery Award.”
PC Raja will attend the inaugural 2025 London Police Bravery Awards on Thursday 3 April. At the event, three overall regional winners will be announced, who will attend the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.
The Gold sponsors of the London Police Bravery Awards are Metfriendly, Axon and Officer Insurance Cover, part of the Ardonagh Group.
Also sponsoring the awards are Silver sponsors Bluline and JMW Solicitors; and Bronze sponsors Slater and Gordon Lawyers, Police Mortgages, Accord, THB Solicitors, Blackfords LLP, the National Police Healthcare Scheme, Uniform Mortgages and Penningtons Manches Cooper.
