The Police officer who got shot

Police chiefs in England were asked to explain why repeated cries for help by an officer who was shot and blinded in the line of duty were unheard or neglected. PC David Rathband, attached to the Metropolitan Police Force, was shot in the head while sitting in a police car by a fugitive gunman who emptied a round of pellets in no time.

The incident happened in July 2010 and by the time he gained consciousness in the hospital he was blinded forever.

Since then the normal happy life of David turned upside down. Struggling to overcome his misery for 20 months, he had no option but to say goodbye last week to his life by hanging himself from the ceiling in his home in Northumberland. Now many theories have emerged about the lack of support he received after sustaining life-long injuries. Were his employer and the authorities turning a blind eye to him?

David, who was married for 20 years with two children, could not bear the loss of his sight and always complained about the never-ending darkness which followed him everywhere. He regretted the incident very much and it was very difficult for his wife and children to bear the unexpected disaster that had fallen upon them. They were isolated from support both socially and as a family.

He was due to resume his duties in July after a two year absence. But it emerged that during the past 20 months he received very little support from his employer, the police department or any other governmental authority. Apart from sending counsellors and psychiatrists several times there was no proper support available for David throughout. The impact of isolation made David launch his own charity, 'Blue Lamp Foundation', which aims to support service personnel injured in the line of duty. Launching the charity itself indicates the lack of support David received.

David had to undergo a few operations to remove two hundred shotgun pellets lodged in his skull and also visited Australia for further treatments. His twin brother who lives there looked after him during his four-week stay. But by then a sad event had already taken place. Kath, his wife of 20 years, had left the matrimonial home due to unreasonable behaviour of David. How come a well disciplined officer like David became violent towards his loving wife? Did this have anything to do with the lack of psychiatric support he received over the past months?

Hours before David was due to fly back home from Australia, he revealed on Twitter that all efforts to rescue his marriage had failed. He also tweeted "I lost my sight, my job, my wife and my marriage". He further wrote "I am flying back to London on Monday and will say goodbye to my children". He also tweeted 'RIP PC Rathband'. Why didn't his friends or colleagues notice David's cries for help? No one noticed at that time. Even the Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sad. Now it is too late. There are hundreds of police officers who become injured, disabled or who die in the UK in the line of duty. They have another problem. It is the returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. No one is coming from Iraq now. But there were many soldiers returning from there during the past few years who were traumatised and in unbalanced mental states due to the gruesome events they experienced during the war. Some suffered long-term mental instability, separated from their families, left their wives and children, or harassed their girlfriends and partners. Experts say the unusual pattern of behaviour was due to the trauma which was not treated in the proper manner. Now soldiers from Afghanistan are returning England, the world leader in welfare and support to third world countries, has gaps in its own frame.

Many countries in the world are at war either in their own land or somewhere else. Many soldiers get injured, face disability or die. The injured and the disabled are returned or carried back home. The son who bathed his mother by fetching water from the well when he was on holiday from army service might return home one day disabled. Now the same mother has to bathe him, ignoring the backache that she has had for so long. Does that mother get help? If an officer who leaves home in full service uniform waving goodbye to his children and wife returns as a blind person, has that loving wife got the experience, support or the patience to handle him? Who is going to fill the gap of the father who used to read bedtime stories to those little children?

It is not only a duty of the charities to support them. It is our obligation too.