2025 POLICE BRAVERY AWARDS PC Strange was the first
to approach the burning car, gaining entry through the rear doors. He immediately attempted to remove the headrests from the driver’s and front passenger’s seats in an effort to reach the casualty. At the same time, PC Dabrowski used a fire extinguisher in a
desperate bid to control the spreading flames.
However, thick smoke quickly filled the interior, making it difficult to breathe or see. Struggling for air, PC Strange began to choke but refused to abandon his efforts. In minutes, the smoke had intensified, and visibility inside the vehicle was almost zero. The officers knew they had only moments to act before the fire fully engulfed the car. Together they managed to pull the unresponsive driver from the front seat to the rear, inching him towards the rear left door. After several minutes, the officers successfully extracted the casualty and immediately began CPR outside the vehicle. Just seconds later, an explosion rocked the scene. Over the course of four gruelling minutes, PC Strange and PC Dabrowski risked everything to rescue the driver from a seemingly impossible situation.
WEST MERCIA PS Kully Singh (far right) and PC Stacey Hegenbarth (right) risked their lives to stop a wrong-way driver on a busy motorway. On 30 July 2024, West Mercia Police received a flurry of
frantic reports of a car travelling at highspeed on the wrong side of the M5.
Within minutes the force control room deployed multiple units to the M5 to put a closure in place and to attempt to stop the driver who was having a mental health crisis.
PS Singh
and PC Hegenbarth were deployed to conduct the closure, bringing four lanes of the southbound carriageway to a halt with a large buffer zone between the wrong way driver and innocent members of the public.
The other units deployed headed southbound to
intercept the driver and attempted to stop them. The first unit came across the vehicle but it was travelling too quickly to stop. The wrong way driver then met a second traffic unit who attempted to block their path. The driver swerved to avoid the officers at speeds of over 80mph. With the driver having evaded the other deployed units, PS Singh and PC Hegenbarth were left as the last remaining vehicle between the speeding driver in crisis, four lanes of stationary vehicles and hundreds of members of the public.
PCs Mateusz Dabrowski and Dominic Strange from Warickshire police
31 | POLICE | JUNE | 2025
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