Terror by Water: Cleveland Police Let Suspect Walk After Liquid Attack in Hartlepool...

Cleveland Police took to social media this weekend to try & reassure locals living in Hartlepool that the incident was merely 'a prank'..... in reality, it could have ended far worse !

18th May 2025

Cleveland Police has again found itself at the centre of controversy after claims they've dismissed what could have been a potentially serious incident, dismissing it by seemingly giving the offender "Stern Words Of Advice" instead of throwing the book at them...

At around 4:30pm on Saturday 17th May, police were called to Brenda Road in Hartlepool, following reports that a woman had been sprayed with an unknown liquid from a passing vehicle. Although the woman fortunately sustained no injuries and officers were said to have provided first aid, the situation rapidly raising alarm—not only due to its unsettling nature but also due to its eerie familiarity.

In the hours that followed, three additional people reported being squirted with a similar unknown substance, the immediate fear would have been very real: was it acid? Bleach? Urine? Something dangerous? In today’s world, where acid attacks are not uncommon and fear is part of the public consciousness, the trauma inflicted in those moments cannot and should not be dismissed.

According to Cleveland Police's own statement, a search of a suspect vehicle later that day parked on South Road found only bottles of water. The occupants reportedly admitted to spraying 'water' at random people—something they likely found funny. The result however was no arrest. No charges. Just “stern words of advice.” In an age where public safety ought to be paramount, Cleveland Police decided a warning was sufficient.

A similar incident occured in May 2022 in Stockton on Tees. No Charges were brought there either !

This isn’t the first time the force has treated such incidents with baffling leniency. In 2021, its claimed a woman in Stockton-on-Tees was also sprayed with an unknown liquid on Durham Road. The outcome ?—“words of advice.” With many questioning just long before this bizarre pattern results in someone coming to some serious harm?

Spraying unknown substances at members of the public is not a prank—it’s an offence. It invokes panic, violates public decency, and threatens to retraumatise those already living in fear of violence. There are legitimate public order laws that exist to prevent exactly this sort of behaviour, yet Cleveland Police appear hesitant—if not entirely unwilling—to use them.

Critics claim its sending out the message that terrorising strangers is okay so long as it's "just water" no matter of the public fear and distress caused, so long as you smile and say it was a joke !

Cleveland Police did offer at least a half-hearted reassurance that the liquid was indeed water. Comforting, perhaps, in hindsight—but hindsight isn’t a luxury victims have in the heat of the moment. That moment could just as easily have ended in disfigurement, blindness, or trauma that lasts a lifetime.

If a random member of the public had retaliated in fear—thinking they were under attack—would they have been given “stern words of advice,” or a court summons?

This latest incident is said to be a glaring example of Cleveland Police’s continued failure to understand the world in which we now live. In a time where threat perception is heightened, and the margin for error is razor-thin, with an incident that could have easily end in tragedy seemingly dismissed by a police force that simply doesnt understand that in 2025 Teesside, a seemngly 'trivial' incident like this, could have had unimaginable consequenses...