Four police officers who smashed ice with their hands and elbows to try to reach young boys trapped beneath a frozen lake are among the nominees in this year’s Police Bravery Awards.
The officers, who ignored safety guidelines, were the first to answer calls to the lake in Solihull where four boys had vanished after playing on the ice and falling through.
One constable was taken to hospital later, suffering from mild hypothermia after the dramatic rescue bid. Sadly, all four boys died after attempts to resuscitate them.
Sgt Fergal Sharkey, who helped lead the dramatic operation, fought back tears as he told us: “It was quickly decided we needed to go into the water and we linked arms and formed a human chain, there were no life rings or rope. Some officers were using their hands and batons to break the ice.
“We got out as far as we could but we were still some distance away from where the boys went in and couldn’t reach them, so I detached myself and ploughed on, breaking the ice with my elbows, but I got to a lip in the lake where the bottom completely drops off.
“I’m a strong swimmer, but it was so cold I was physically shaking. I tried to climb on the ice but it wasn’t thick enough to take my weight, so we had to make the decision to come out.”
Firefighters entered the water with specialist equipment and recovered the boys from beneath the ice and there were prolonged attempts to revive them on the side of the lake, but they all died later.
Sgt Sharkey said: “The paramedics were shouting out that they needed coats and blankets, and all the police staff, members of the public, they were all just throwing coats, anything they could find to put over the boys and give them some chance of survival. We did our best.”
Some 90 officers nominated for awards
Eight-year-old Samuel Butler and his six-year-old brother Finlay died alongside their cousin Thomas Stewart, 11, and a fourth boy Jack Johnson, who was 10. Last week, a coroner concluded they had drowned in “a terrible accident”.
Fourteen officers from the West Midlands force involved in the rescue operation in December are among 90 from across England and Wales who are contenders in the 28th annual awards organised by the Police Federation, which represents the lower ranks.
The results will be announced tonight after a year in which public confidence in policing, its culture and performance has fallen to an all-time low.
Public ‘should not forget brave acts’
A chief constable said: “We all recognise that we have to work hard to regain the public’s trust after a lot of scandals and negative publicity, but people should not forget the brave acts that officers perform on a daily basis up and down the country. It’s right that their heroism should be celebrated.”
Three officers in Hampshire are among the nominees after they arrested a suspect in a burning house as the man held a knife to his partner’s throat in front of her two young children. One officer was stabbed in the hand.
Two officers in the Northumbria force were nominated after arresting a suspect while his dog was mauling them and he was punching them.
In Nottingham, two officers arrested a man after he had stabbed one of them several times.
A detective in Bedfordshire is still being treated for critical burns he suffered trying to arrest an arson suspect who later fell from a balcony and died. The officer managed to alert neighbours to the flames before he collapsed with his injuries.
In Sussex, two constables disarmed a suspect threatening hospital staff and patients with a large knife.