Canadian police bombarded by butter knives in booby-trapped house

Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Canadian police officer was struck with a series of butter knives while responding to a vacant apartment on Monday morning.

A St. Thomas landlord contacted police about an evicted tenant possibly trespassing on the property when the pair discovered a booby-trapped door armed with three spring-loaded butter knives, Global News reported.

Police said one knife struck the officer in the chest and another hit his hand, while the last fell to the floor, missing him and the landlord.

"We're trained, when we open the door, we back out, to be ready on what's on the other side of the door. That's why the knife didn't hit him in the face," St. Thomas Police Const. Tanya Calvert told the CBC. "When it happened, it was a good reminder for all of us to always be aware and never get complacent."

Calvert said the setup wasn't particularly "sophisticated" but was definitely placed with the intent to cause harm.

"The knives were jammed up in the doorway, so when they did release, it was with quite a bit of velocity, so they did hit [the officer] with quite a bit of force," she said.

No one was hurt in the incident, but Calvert added that if one of the knives would've struck the officer in the eye, it may have caused serious injury.

"Looking back we can have a bit of a laugh, but at the time, it wasn't funny. We're thinking, 'What else is in this apartment?'" she said.