2024 POLICE BRAVERY AWARDS ESSEX


PC David Bridge and his wife Samantha, who is a criminal justice support officer, rescued their elderly neighbours from their burning home in the middle of the night.


They were both at their home address with their family, asleep. At 3.30am they were woken by an explosion. Their neighbour’s house had been struck by lightning and had caught fire. They were aware the elderly residents of the house had mobility issues and would be unable to get out by themselves and they also had a number of pets. As the flames were starting to spread as PC Bridge and Samantha sprinted over and started banging on the windows. They managed to raise the male occupant who was able to open the door and both PC Bridge and Samantha rushed into the house through the thick smoke to rescue their neighbours, prioritising their lives over their own. The female occupant hadn’t heard the explosion and was still at the back of the house. They navigated their way through falling debris from the ceiling to reach her. Samantha woke her up and assisted her from the premises while PC Bridge collected the six dogs and a cat up one by one under his arm.


All the neighbours rallied around to look after the elderly couple, and nobody was hurt, or worse, thanks to the bravery and quick thinking of PC Bridge and Samantha.


GLOUCESTERSHIRE PS Sarah-Jane Tucker and PC James Taylor faced a precarious situation involving a man with a knife on a rooftop. PC Taylor and his colleagues


attended to a call whereby a voilent man had armed himself with a knife and a long metal object, before climbing onto the roof of a single-storey outbuilding in a residential garden. Remaining calm, collected and patient, PC Taylor negotiated with the aggressive male making threats, who was either suffering from mental health issues, under the influence of drugs or alcohol or a combination of all three.


Using his excellent negotiation skills, PC Taylor was able successfully and tactfully engage with the male to build an understanding of why he was on roof, helping to avoid him becoming confused during the crisis. PS Tucker commanded and controlled the ground floor, ensuring officer and public safety was at the forefront. The incident took a turn for the worse when the man jumped down from the rooftop and stormed towards PC Taylor, flailing a large knife and the long metal object, which was then identified as a builder’s heavy duty spirit level.


PC Taylor deployed his Taser twice, with the second shot leaving the man incapacitated on the ground. Immediately, aftercare and support were given to the man, before PC Taylor and PS Tucker restrained him. Both officers continued to communicate clearly and calmly to the man, as their colleagues assisted in recovering the weapons before he was arrested.


GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE


Sergeants Tim Ansell and Marc Foster, and PC Marcus Wolstencroft (left to right, above) skilfully detained a man with a knife who attempted to murder them. The trio were in attendance as support at the scene of an uneventful failure to stop by a moped. The driver was detained by PC Wolstencroft and his student who had given chase. PS Ansell and Foster (left and middle) were in attendance speaking to those involved when a man approached PS Foster from behind and without warning violently attacked him with a knife, going straight for his throat. As PS Foster struggled to defend himself, PS Ansell courageously stepped in and came to the defence of his colleague, the individual then came for PS Ansell, stabbing repeatedly at his neck. At this point PC Wolstencroft stepped in, demonstrating great calmness of mind and expert skill in deploying his Taser. His first deployment failed, but following training he held his


nerve and ground and fired again, this time incapacitating the individual and creating an opportunity for him to be restrained and detained.


His presence of mind and coolness under pressure meant he was able to follow training procedures and deploy a textbook use of Taser. He even had the composure to apologise to bystanders for swearing in the heat of the incident. The time this bought PS Foster meant he was able to spring to the aid of his partner PS Ansell who had received a stab wound to the neck. PS Foster applied, without doubt, lifesaving first aid, plugging the bleed with his hands, and reassuring PS Ansell he would be ok whilst waiting for medical support to arrive. The heroic actions of these officers meant a deranged and


dangerous individual was removed from the streets, undoubtedly preventing further attacks and injury and potential loss of life. PS Foster received slash wounds to the neck and arms and PS Ansell suffered two open wounds to his neck, one of which required a vein to be cauterised and stitched, along with further slash wounds to his arms and body.


21 | POLICE | JUNE | 2024


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