The Polish man who bravely confronted terrorist Usman Khan during his attack at London Bridge last month will receive one of Britain’s highest civilian awards for bravery, according to media reports in both the United Kingdom and Poland.
The incident took place too late for Łukasz Koczocik, 38, to be included in Britain’s New Year Honours list. But in 2020 he will be awarded either the George Cross or the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, report The Sun and Fakt. (The George Cross cannot be awarded to foreign nationals, and no reports have indicated that Koczocik has British citizenship.)
The same honours will also be given to five other men who challenged Khan. Together they helped to prevent him from killing more than his initial two victims before he was shot dead by police. “The Prime Minister and the country have huge admiration for the courage they showed,” a spokesman for Boris Johnson told The Sun.
Following the attack on 29 November, Koczocik was widely but wrongly identified as the man pictured on London Bridge confronting Khan with a narwhal tusk. In fact, as was revealed last week, that was South African-born Darryn Frost.
The man with the tusk is apparently a Polish chef named Łukasz who works at Fishmongers Hall.
Bloody Poles. Coming over here. Taking out our terrorists.
— Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) November 30, 2019
Koczocik’s confrontation with Khan took place away from the cameras but was no less heroic. When the attack began in Fishmongers’ Hall, Koczocik, who works there as a kitchen porter, charged at Khan armed with a pole. He then engaged in “one minute of one-on-one straight combat…buying time, allowing others to escape,” said Toby Williamson, the CEO of Fishmongers’ Hall.
Despite being stabbed five times by Khan – and despite Khan claiming to be wearing a suicide vest (which later turned out to be fake) – Koczocik refused to give up, continuing to fight him until others joined the struggle. He then joined the pursuit of Khan after the terrorist fled the building and ran onto the street.
By this stage, Koczocik’s “job was done, the police are here and I think you’ve seen the rest on camera”, Williamson told the BBC. Koczocik was then taken to hospital to be treated for his wounds.
An eyewitness account of how Polish hero Łukasz, "the guy who cleans glasses in the basement", fought off the London Bridge terrorist, initially in "one-on-one combat", suffering seriously knife wounds (from which he is still recovering in hospital) pic.twitter.com/MqINIq1aYS
— Notes from Poland ?? (@notesfrompoland) December 2, 2019
In a statement released through London’s Metropolitan Police, Koczocik said that he had “acted instinctively” during the attack. “I am now coming to terms with the whole traumatic incident and would like the space to do this in privacy, with the support of my family,” he added. He also expressed “condolences to the families who have lost precious loved ones” in this “this sad and pointless attack”.
Koczocik’s heroism has been hailed in Britain and around the world, including back in his native Poland. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro had hoped to quickly award him a Polish state honour for his bravery. But “procedural problems” and the fact that the request must come from the foreign minister have delayed the process, reports Polish daily Fakt.
Main image credit: Łukasz Koczocik/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
