Police officer seriously injured in glass door incident

PC Dave Morgan's arms were so badly lacerated when he went backwards through a plate glass door at Ian Close that he had to have 80 stitches.

He was rushed to the specialist Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead for treatment for a severed tendon.

Only the stab-vest he was wearing as part of standard Sussex Police precautionary measures saved him from more serious injuries.

DC Morgan lives in Hastings and is a family man.

He served in Hastings on uniformed duties and in Bexhill with the Traffic Division (now Road Policing Unit) before transferring to Eastbourne. He returned to Hastings when he joined the divisional patrol group.

It was in this capacity that he was acting operationally in Bexhill in following up an alleged earlier incident.

Sergeant Trish Reeve-Fowkes described Dave Morgan as a popular figure in the division.

"We haven't really had chance for what's happened to register at the moment. It's all been too hectic.

"Of course, we are all concerned for him. But though his arms are lacerated, I gather his stab vest saved him from injury to the torso. It was his arms which really caught it."

*Lee McIntyre, 29, from Ian Close, appeared before Hastings Magistrates Court on Monday accused with unlawfully and maliciously wounding PC Dave Morgan with intent to prevent arrest on Saturday.

No application for bail was made by his solicitor and he was remanded in custody to Lewes Crown Court for a hearing on August 28.