Bravery award for police officer who risked his life to saved man trapped under car

A police officer who risked his life to save a man trapped under a crashed car has received a top bravery award. 

Warwickshire Police’s PC Andrew Dear bore the weight of the car, which was leaking fuel and at risk of exploding, to help the severely injured victim.

He was the overall winner at the 24th Police Bravery Awards, an event recognising the heroic deeds of officers across the country.

PC Dear was the first to the scene of the serious accident, where he found the man trapped between the road and the roof of an upturned car.

The brave officer wedged himself into a 10-inch gap under the dangerously leaking car to provide an airway and reassure the casualty, who had a severe head inury and was bleeding badly.

Despite the risk to his own life, PC Dear supported the man until a paramedic arrived to secure an IV line and stem the bleeding.

After the incident, the officer said: “Knowing what his family would probably be thinking had he not made it, knowing somebody was there with him when he was injured, trapped – that means everything.”

PC Dear was among 71 officers from 40 forces across England and Wales who were nominated for the 2019 awards.

Nominees were shot, stabbed, beaten, sprayed with ammonia and hit by their own Taser gun while on duty.

Heroic officers rescued people from an oncoming train, a burning vehicle, a fast-flowing river and neck-deep sea water.

PC Dear and seven other regional winners – along with a police dog – picked up awards at the London ceremony, which was organised by the Police Federation and sponsored by Police Mutual.

Police dog Logan and his handler PC Ian Sweeney, from Humberside Police, were named the North East’s winner for catching a stabbing suspect after being shot with a pellet gun.

PC Sweeney was hit in the face, shoulder and leg, while Logan was shot in the mouth and nose three times.

The North West’s winner was Cumbria Police’s Sergeant Kevin Milby, who single-handedly chased and caught an axe-wielding suspect.

He managed to disarm and handcuff the offender, who had forced his way into a home and attacked someone with an axe, leaving them with life-threatening injuries.

DC Joby Reeve, who won in the London region, was stabbed in the leg while protecting a victim from a moped attack.

The South West’s regional winner, PC Agata Makowska of Devon and Cornwall Police, rescued an unconscious man from a house fire.

The officer needed hospital treatment after she ran into the burning building to drag the man to safety.

Another winner, Bedfordshire Police’s PC Christopher Willcox-Cassidy, safely disarmed a vulnerable woman threatening to cut her own throat with a kitchen knife – an incident which happened in his first year of service.

But not all of the winners’ heroic acts were performed on duty.

DC Joanne Smith from Suffolk Police, who won the East regional award, was off duty when she chased after armed robbery suspects.

Another off-duty officer, PC Kelda Griffiths of Gwent Police, won the Wales regional award for fighting off an assailant with a hammer – despite having a broken hand.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who hosted the awards, praised the “everyday acts of heroism” by officers and said police put themselves “on the line, time and time again, for the sake of others”.

(c) Sky News 2019: Bravery award for police officer who risked his life to saved man trapped under car