A man having his hair cut leapt out of the barber’s chair and ran to help a police officer who was being wrestled to the ground in a headlock.

Kyle Whiting was having a trim at Heron Barbers in Warrington, Cheshire, when he looked through the window and saw the officer being confronted.

The 32-year-old dashed out of the shop – with the barber’s cape still draped around his shoulders – before dragging the man off the officer and giving him time to handcuff the suspect.

Mobile phone footage of the incident was shared on social media, with people praising the “barbershop Batman”, “haircut hero”, and “caped crusader”.

Mr Whiting, whose sister is a police officer, said he was only in the barbers shop by chance after taking his girlfriend to the A&E unit at nearby Warrington Hospital.

He said he realised something was amiss when he noticed the barber becoming distracted with a commotion flaring up outside.

He said: “Before you know it, my barber had taken his phone out and had gone up to the window and started recording.

“I then saw the guy outside swing for the police officer and throw him down on to the ground.

“I thought, ‘I’m not sitting back and watching this’.”

Mr Whiting said he was thinking of his sister and felt it was about “putting yourselves in other people’s shoes”.

“If that was my sister, I would hope somebody wouldn’t hesitate to help her if she was on her own,” he said.

“So before you know it, I’ve run out of the door.”

Another officer and other members of the public soon arrived to help – leaving Mr Whiting able to return to the barbers for his chop to be finished.

In a coincidence, Mr Whiting later saw the police officer sitting next to his girlfriend in the A&E unit, waiting for an X-ray on the broken finger he had received.

Cheshire Constabulary thanked Mr Whiting for his support during the incident, that took place at about 11.40 GMT on 16 December.

The force said: “A 50-year-old man was subsequently arrested in relation to the matter and has since been passed to the care of health professionals.”

The video of the incident, shared by Mr Whiting’s sister, has since had more than 400,000 views and 50,000 likes across Instagram and Facebook.