A MAN has been thanked for his bravery after suffering a cracked tooth while helping police to detain a suspected drink driver at a McDonald's in Pitsea.

Essex Police received a call from a member of staff at a McDonald’s restaurant shortly before 2.40am on Sunday to report a suspected drink driver.

A female officer was quickly on the scene and after speaking to a driver, attempted to arrest him.

The suspect allegedly resisted efforts to restrain him and punched the officer in the face and launched kicks.

The officer was left bruised, scratched, and grazed, but turned down further medical treatment and remained on duty throughout the rest of the night.

A member of McDonald’s staff was also assaulted while coming to the officer’s aid, suffering sprained fingers and a cracked tooth - but has been hailed a hero for helping detain the suspect.

A second suspect allegedly attempted to stop the officer from arresting the driver, before further units arrived to assist in detaining the pair.

A 30-year-old man, from Wickford, is being questioned on suspicion of drink driving and assaulting a police officer.

A 26-year-old woman, from Basildon, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and remains in custody.

Det Chief Insp Jennifer Bliss thanked the brave member of the public who was injured while helping to detain the suspected drink driver.

She said: “I want to offer my own personal gratitude to the member of the public who went above and beyond to assist our officer, sustaining injury to himself in the process.

“Without his intervention, I have no doubt my officer would have been in a far worse situation.

“We will be writing to him personally to express our thanks.

“I would also thank staff for quickly alerting us to this incident – we rely on intelligence received from the public to keep dangerous drink and drug drivers off our streets.

“I would like to commend our officer for her response to this incident, and her fortitude in detaining both suspects.

“This incident exemplifies the challenges our officers face on a daily basis dealing with even the most seemingly routine of incidents.

“Our officers work day-in-day out to keep the public safe. They never deserve to be subjected to violence for doing their jobs.”