NORTH Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom revealed how pepper spray was accidentally sprayed into his eye by another police officer.

The chief was attending a domestic incident while on patrol in Wrexham during New Year’s Eve.

Mr Brunstrom said he was the only ‘shield trained’ officer present when his team arrived at a house where a man was brandishing a large kitchen knife.

He wrote on his blog that efforts to restrain the man were ‘not without some risk in the dark, in a garden with few hard corners, an offender who did not understand English, and untrained staff’.

He added: “While preparing the assault (with me behind one of the shields) a colleague who shall remain nameless wisely decided to test his Captor spray – but accidentally bounced it off the back of the shields, catching me neatly with a drop in one eye. Luckily it was only a small drop.”

Two officers with Taser stun guns then arrived firing at the offender who ‘promptly dropped the knife’.

“We then rushed him to the ground in another mêlée during which I was able to safely recover the knife from under the struggling mound,” the chief constable said.

Mr Brunstrom is no stranger to the force’s weaponry, having volunteered to be tasered to feel the impact of the electric stun gun himself.

He revealed New Year’s Eve in Wrexham proved to be remarkably quiet.

Police arrested 14 people in the Wrexham area that night, for alleged offences including affray and drunk and disorderly.