Elvis Poa: Police officer stabbed in head says he’s ‘not a hero’

The Sydney police officer who chased down a man who stabbed him twice has broken his silence, telling his bosses that he wasn’t a hero and was just doing his job.

Constable Elvis Poa and another female officer were allegedly attacked from behind in Sydney’s CBD in a brazen daylight stabbing on Sunday afternoon.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb said Const Poa remained in hospital and was being treated for two skull fractures after the alleged attack.

The top cop had spoken to both officers and they were “doing well”, she said.

“I commended them for their actions, their courageous actions yesterday,” Ms Webb said.

“I’m very proud of the actions of all officers involved in yesterday.”

She said both officers were “very, very humble” when they were praised for chasing down the alleged offender after the attack.

Ms Webb said they had said they were “just doing their job... (their) training has kicked in. And, in fact, one of the officers said it was really playing in her mind, did she do everything that she could have done?”.

“I said ‘Yes, you’ve done an amazing job, and you should be applauded for the work that you’ve done to secure the (alleged) offender,” Ms Webb said.

“The alleged offender was secured for the court, and I think that’s a great outcome. Unfortunately, an officer doing his duties was injured (and) two skull fractures... obviously shows the force that was used.

“It was clearly a very dangerous situation.”

We’ve seen in recent weeks the bravery of our police, they’re running towards danger when everyone else is running away from danger.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley had also spoken with the officers and described them both as “extraordinary”.

“I said: ‘How did you get up and (give) chase?’,” she recounted of their conversation.

“Because that’s what I was trained to do,” she claimed Const Poa told her.

“Extraordinary. We have the most courageous, toughest, well-trained police officers in New South Wales. And I say we all should just thank them.

“If you walk past one go up, shake their hand and say, Thank you.”

The bravery of Const Poa and his partner came weeks after the horrific Westfield Bondi Junction was halted by a lone female officer, Inspector Amy Scott.

“Here we had a police officer, doing his job going about his business, like he does day in day out, and a person has allegedly come up behind him, and for no apparent reason, stabbed him twice,” Ms Catley said.

“We’ve seen in recent weeks the bravery of our police, you know, they’re running towards danger when everyone else is running away from danger.

“And then you get a situation like this, like, it is unacceptable. And we as a community should not tolerate it. And I hope that, you know, the book is thrown at that person who allegedly did that event.”

“I have spoken to the officer who was allegedly stabbed. And again, they’re so gracious. You know, every officer that I’ve spoken to that has been injured in the course of their day-to-day work, has been so humble.”

A man has been charged with attempted murder after the alleged attack.

Okan Ozcan, 33, did not appear when his matter was briefly heard at Sydney’s Downing Centre on Monday and an application for bail was not made on his behalf.