Officer saves a suicidal man`s life
A suicidal man who tried to hang himself from a tree was saved after a police officer used a lighter to burn the noose around his neck.
A suicidal man who tried to hang himself from a tree was saved after a police officer used a lighter to burn the noose around his neck.
A man rang his ex-girlfriend saying he was going to commit suicide in Haigh Hall Country Park in Wigan and sent her a picture of a rope which he intended to hang himself with.
Several officers, police dogs, a police helicopter, the mountain rescue service and a police search co-ordinator all attended the search but they were unable to find the man.
However, Police Constable Burkinshaw, who works as a neighbourhood officer for Greater Manchester Police, refused to give up and after five hours of searching in the darkness, the man was found hanging from a tree at 6.30am.
The man had a ligature tied around his neck but was still alive. PC Burkinshaw climbed up the tree, placed the man on a secure branch and used a lighter to burn the rope to allow him to breathe.
When PC Burkinshaw visited the suicidal man in hospital the next day, he was immensely grateful for his actions and admitted he had picked that tree because of its hidden location.
The officers heroic efforts were praised after receiving a Chief Constables Commendation at a ceremony on November 9.
Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said: It is only through Martin`s sheer dedication, the thoroughness of his search and the unwillingness to let a family lose their son, that the man`s life was saved.
PC Burkinshaw added: I felt lucky that I was able to find him. When I was trying to keep hold of him he was telling me that he could not hold on. As I was trying to hold him up I was also trying to direct my colleagues and the mountain rescue team to help us as the mapping system for our radios was not working.
Whilst I was looking for him I kept seeing his poor parents frantically searching for him and this spurred me on to carry on looking for him.
When the mountain rescue team and my colleagues found us I felt relieved and then is when it dawned on me that the male was so close to dying and we had managed to save him.
To be honest, I was shocked to receive the award because what I did was what my colleagues are doing on a daily basis. On this occasion any of my colleagues would have done the same and during the night there was outstanding teamwork and effort put in by the police, mountain rescue and the males family. I wanted to accept the award on their behalf as well as it was a team effort.