A POLICE officer has been hailed a hero for possibly saving the life of a teenager who had cut a vital artery with a knife in York city centre.

Sergeant Jon Naughton rushed to the rescue when the 17-year-old youth was left with blood pouring from his leg while “messing about” with two friends at about 1.30pm on Tuesday. The officer then spent half an hour tending to him as paramedics were called to the scene in Goodramgate.

Sgt Naughton, of the York city centre policing team, played down his heroics, saying: “I just did what I was trained to do”.

But Chief Inspector Dave Hannan, deputy commander of York, hailed Sgt Naughton as a hero for his actions.

He said: “Jon was doing what he does best – leading from the front and through his training and diligence he potentially helped to save the life of this 17 year-old lad.”

Sgt Naughton and a colleague were on patrol when he saw three youths on bikes. “I noticed one of them had bloodstains on his tracksuit bottoms,” he said.

“I asked him what had happened and he was not aware it was so serious. He showed me the injury and it looked like he had suffered a severed artery at the top of his left leg.

“It was a very serious injury and it became apparent he had suffered it while he had been messing around with some sharp implement, potentially a knife. We have still not quite got to the bottom of it.”

The teenager’s leg was “pumping with blood” so Sgt Naughton applied pressure to the wound, following a technique he learned during his first-aid training with North Yorkshire Police.

A cycling paramedic also arrived within minutes and issued advice to the officer as he dealt with the emergency before an ambulance arrived and took the 17-year-old to York Hospital for treatment.

Sgt Naughton said: “Obviously, it was distressing for members of the public to see so much blood. In my view, it was a very bad injury and I don’t know what could have happened had he not received emergency treatment.”

Sgt Naughton said the 17-year-old remained conscious and in good spirits and his friends stayed to boost his mood, adding: “He did say ‘thank you’ when he was in the back of the ambulance.”

Chief Insp Hannan said: “Jon is a well-experienced and proactive officer who acted on his instinct and worked to his best of his ability.

“This is no less than we expect from him. He is a true professional.”

A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service confirmed the teenager was taken to York Hospital with heavy bleeding and said the police were “a massive help”.

She said a cycling paramedic got to the scene within minutes and found police tending to a 17-year-old boy bleeding heavily.

Witness Jacey Lamerton, owner of the Get Your Frocks Off store in Goodramgate, said: “He was a youngish man, and it looked like he was bleeding from near his groin.

“The police and ambulance bike got there quite quickly, but his leg was sodden in blood.”