A DOG handler single-handedly stopped a madman from hijacking an ambulance an kidnapping his family.

PC Wayne Mills raced to Woodstock with his police dog Cody to help assist paramedic staff who had been attacked by a man.

The man had punched one of the ambulance crew and then aggressively manhandled the other before making a getaway.

When PC Mills arrived at the scene he started to talk with the paramedics about what had happened.

Out of nowhere the man then suddenly ran out of a nearby house, straight in the direction of the PC.

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He started throwing punches at the officer, and the paramedics helped the man’s family flee to safety in the back of their ambulance.

Despite being warned to calm down and then being sprayed with PAVA spray, which is similar to Pepper Spray, he continued to threaten PC Mills ­— who then drew his baton to protect himself.

Incredibly it had very little effect on the man who carried on behaving erratically.

At this point PC Mills went to fetch his four-legged colleague from the back of the vehicle in a bid to help get the man under control.

However instead of calming down, he leapt into the ambulance – with his family in the back – and started driving it away.

PC Mills quickly put Cody back into the car then ran after the ambulance managed to pull the aggressor from the driving seat.

After a further struggle PC Mills then managed to detain and then cuff the man.

The PC has now been given a Thames Valley Police Federation Bravery Award after stepping into the unknown in September 2017.

But he said ‘he was just doing his job’.

He said: “I don’t think you overly think about your own safety. It’s not something that comes to the forefront of your mind.

“He was so dangerously out of control; he could not be allowed to either get away in the ambulance or on foot because of the aggression and violence he was using. He had to be detained.

“I was just doing my job. I would have expected the majority of police officers to have done the same.

“Doing nothing was not an option, put it that way.”

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The federations head Craig O’ Leary said he was ‘proud’ of the officer and praised his hard work in keeping people safe.

He said: “PC Mills was on his own with no back up to assist at that time so to do what he did to protect this family from potentially being kidnapped was incredibly brave.

“This man was extremely aggressive, and there was a real threat to his, the paramedics’ and the public’s safety.

“We are grateful to him for keeping our communities safe and incredibly proud of him as a person and as a Thames Valley Police officer.”

PC Mills will join other police officers from across Thames Valley, who have given also been given bravery award, at the ceremony on March 5.

Other officers from Oxfordshire will be highlighted in more stories this week.