A crazed man behaved "like a lunatic", causing paramedics to flee from his home so quickly they left medical equipment behind.
The paramedics, trying to treat Alan Dear after he had gone on a four-day drink and drugs binge, were so concerned they ushered some of his family into the safety of their ambulance and parked further down the road.
A lone police officer arrived at the scene to be confronted by Dear aggressively waving a 4ft-long axe.
The defendant, a married father-of-three, hurled abuse at Pc Bryan Sladen and threatened to kill him.
John Hallissey, prosecuting at Leicester Crown Court, said: "The defendant came towards the officer swinging the axe with a crazed look and wide eyes."
The officer, fearing for his life, drew his baton outside the defendant's home in Oakham Road, Greetham, Rutland. Dear eventually calmed down when a neighbour intervened.
He admitted possessing a bladed article and causing an affray.
Sentencing Dear to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years, Recorder Michael Elsom told him: "Paramedics and police officers are entitled to carry out their work without the threat of extreme violence from people like you.
"Imagine what it's like going to someone's house to help them, to be faced with an apparent lunatic waving an axe. Imagine how terrifying it was."
The court was told Pc Sladen recruited a member of the public to drive down the road to stop traffic from coming up the hill, said Mr Hallissey. There was a stand-off with the defendant in his front garden and the officer in the road.
Dear began picking up large planks of solid wood and hurling them at Pc Sladen. One hit his leg.
The defendant eventually retreated and a woman neighbour disarmed him and calmed him down.
The incident happened after Dear (31) went on a four-day binge of drink and the drug Mcat.
He arrived home on March 31, looking as if he had been severely beaten, with bumps and bruises.
He spent the next two days in bed, before an ambulance was called to his home on April 2, at 5pm.
Paramedics found him lying on the kitchen floor, conscious but incoherent.
As they were assessing him, be became agitated, aggressive and went berserk.
Mr Hallissey said: "The paramedics ran out of the house leaving some of their equipment behind."
Richard Holloway, mitigating, said: "Without alcohol and drugs he's a very pleasant and decent family man.
"He'd been the victim of an assault and collapsed at home and has very little recollection."
Dear began taking drugs after becoming depressed about losing his job.
