Ex-policeman Christer, 73, stopped aggressive man

Christer Nordström was waiting for the train at the travel center in Uppsala when he saw a man start arguing with a woman, whom he seemed to know. It escalated quickly and no law enforcement officers were around.

– He calls her very ugly things. Somehow he grabs her and all of a sudden he screams that he’s going to kill her. And then he takes off his belt and starts swinging it at her, says Christer Nordström.

– Then I stand up and tell him: now you should probably calm down a bit. Then he directs his aggression at me and then I understood that here it’s just a matter of cutting, he continues.

“Became a wrestling match”

73-year-old Christer Nordström is a retired police officer with 47 years in the profession, and at that moment he did not hesitate to intervene.

– I’m used to this type of situation, so it was a little wrestling match there. I knocked him over and actually had to lay on him on the floor until the police arrived.

It is important to alert the police

Most of the other travelers got scared and left, and Christer Nordström asked someone to call the police. But he doesn’t blame them for that. As a private person, you should only act if you judge that you can handle the situation, he says. But the most important thing is to alert the police.

– In this case, I would probably not advise anyone to intervene in what I did. This is about a very violent person. I would never have approached this man if I had not felt that I would be up to the task, he says and continues:

– Intervening is never one hundred percent risk-free. So I think you should have some understanding that some choose not to intervene. But it is important to raise the alarm and also be there, because the police need witnesses if it is a crime.