THE 2023 BRAVERY AWARDS
OVERALL
WINNER REGION 3
WEST MIDLANDS
PS Paula McDowell, PC Alana Grigg, PC Olivia Studholme, PCSO Chloe Westlake, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, PC Jason Gilbert, PC William Finnegan, PC Jordon Finn, PC Harriet Batchelor, PC Fidha Akhtar, PC Anthony Maginnis, PS Fergal Sharkey, PC Charanjit Chana & PC Joshua Adams
PS Paula McDowell, PC Alana Grigg, PC Olivia Studholme, PCSO Chloe Westlake, PC William Finnegan, PC Jordon Finn, PC Harriet Batchelor, PC Fidha Akhtar, PC Anthony Maginnis, PS Fergal Sharkey, PC Stewart Powers, PC Joshua Adams, PC Jason Gilbert and PC Charanjit Chana
In the afternoon of 11 December 2022, West Midlands Police responded to emergency calls informing that four children had fallen into ice-cold water while playing on a frozen lake at Babbs Mill, Solihull.
Within nine minutes of the first call, officers arrived on the scene and started wading into the water to rescue the boys, all under the age of 12. The ice on the surface was thick and
uneven and the water was sub-zero, making it extremely dangerous for the team of officers to continue. Knowing there were young lives at serious risk, the officers were determined not to give up and used their initiative to fearlessly create a human chain to reach the boys further into the lake. One by one, the officers waded through freezing waters, smashing through thick ice with their hands and batons, while competing with unpredictable currents to get as far into the lake as possible. Sergeant Fergal Sharkey was forced
to consider various dangerous options to allow officers to get further out on the ice, such as lying down to spread their
12 | POLICE | AUGUST | 2023
The officers formed a human chain to wade through freezing waters, smashing through thick ice with their hands and batons, while competing with
unpredictable currents to get as far into the lake as possible to rescue four children
weight during the perilous attempts to save the children.
As they went further into the ice-cold
water, those at the end of the chain soon found themselves submerged up to their shoulders. When the team reached
“These officers and staff displayed immense personal bravery, teamwork and dedication in trying to save the lives of four young people.”
a five-foot drop, it proved impossible to reach the children without specialist protective gear. However, the water was so cold that even with protective gear the team would have been impacted by the severe conditions. Reluctantly, the team made the difficult decision to exit the freezing water and
safeguard the boys’ families who had arrived at the scene, as well as concerned members of the public. They created space to work with the Fire Service and the first child was soon brought to the shore to receive emergency care whilst the operation continued to rescue the other children from the water. The team of 14 officers,
along with colleagues from the Air Ambulance and
Fire Service, provided on-the-spot
first aid and CPR to the unconscious children after they had been rescued from the water. They were then blue- lighted to the hospital where efforts to revive them continued, however, despite the best efforts of all the emergency services in attendance, all
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