Officer Struck With Butter Knives While Entering Vacant, Booby Trapped Apartment

Butter knife. (Frank C. Müller|Flickr|CC BY-SA 3.0)

A police officer was hit by butter knives that were rigged up at the door of a vacant apartment in an apparent booby trap.

The officer was responding to a call for assistance when he forced open the door of an apartment in Ontario, Canada. The landlord had called the officer to help him with a tenant that had been evicted and was trespassing, reported CBC.

“The apartment was supposed to be vacant,” said St. Thomas Police Constable Tanya Calvert, describing what the responding officer faced, via Toronto Sun. “The landlord, during the incident, believed that a former tenant who had already been evicted was trespassing there. However, there was potential for others to be in the apartment as well,” she added.

“It wasn’t a sophisticated set up by any means. But it definitely had the intent to harm someone, whoever opened that door,” said Calvert. “Without revealing the actual setup because I don’t want it to become and educational piece for anyone on how to set up a great knife booby trap. Basically they had jarred the knives in a way that when the door opened they would be released with substantial velocity.”

Calvert described to CBC how a normal police call soon turned into something else.

“It’s barricaded somehow. The door is resisting being opened. He’s not sure if there’s furniture up against it or what, but he opens the door with some force only to have these three knives come flying at him.”

Two of the three knives hit the officer in the hand and chest. A third knife missed the officer and hit the floor.

“The knives were jammed up in the doorway, so when they did release, it was with quite a bit of velocity, so they did hit (the officer) with quite a bit of force,” said Calvert.

Police can’t verify that the trap was intended for them, or the landlord, or just for anyone intending to walk through the door. The incident is still being investigated and police are still searching for suspects.

Calvert said she couldn’t recall the last time an officer walked into a booby trap, but noted that police are trained to be alert for anything.

“We’re trained, when we open the door, we back out, to be ready on what’s on the other side of the door. That’s why the knife didn’t hit him in the face,” said Calvert. “Usually, we anticipate a dog or something along those lines. Flying knives are not something that we’ve dealt with on a regular basis.”

From NTD.tv