Bravery award for hero in burning car rescue
Published: March 23, 2006
AN IT consultant who pulled free an injured driver trapped inside a burning car was today set to receive a police bravery award.
Richard Shaw, 30, hauled the unconscious man to safety shortly before the car was gutted by fire.
Mr Shaw is among the 23 officers and civilians due to be honoured at the ceremony by Chief Constable Paddy Tomkins.
Mr Shaw, of Threipmuir Place in Balerno, was driving to work along nearby Ravelrig Road in January last year when he spotted a car which had crashed into a tree.
He said: “I saw that the car was on fire and immediately stopped. Another driver was already there but I don’t think he had checked if anyone was inside.
“The driver was still inside but he was unconscious.
“Flames were coming from the bonnet and smoke was coming round. I tried the driver’s door but it was jammed shut because of the impact. I went round the other side and managed to open the passenger door. I unfastened the seatbelt and pulled the guy out.”
After ignoring the flames to drag him to safety, Mr Shaw gave him first aid while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
The victim was a man in his 20s who was later treated in hospital for minor injuries.
Mr Shaw added: “I didn’t really think about the possibility that the car could explode or something at the time. I just wanted to get the guy out of there.”
Mr Shaw will attend the ceremony at Edinburgh’s Thistle Hotel with his fiance Caroline Anderson, 27, and his mother Sylvia Shaw, 60.
Others being awarded include a pair of plucky pensioners who foiled a robbery at their neighbour’s house after wrestling with the thieves.
‘Have-a-go heroes’ James Healy, 72, and Mathew McKeon, 65, struggled with the teenage culprits after interrupting their burglary attempt.
The two youths escaped empty-handed after fighting off the elderly duo, but were later identified and arrested by police.
Mr Healy, of Southhouse Loan, today said he wouldn’t hesitate before confronting the thieves again.
But the former Royal Navy sailor joked that police chiefs were unlikely to match the litre bottle of whisky he received from the grateful neighbour whose home he protected.
He said: “My next door neighbour Mathew had seen a couple of guys going round the back of our neighbour’s house, a bungalow down the street in Southhouse Avenue. He was suspicious and after about 15 minutes they hadn’t come back out.
“He came and told me about it and we decided to investigate. We could see someone had broken into the conservatory so we went inside the house. There were TVs, video recorders, jewellery and other things all piled up in the middle of the floor. The rest of the house had been ransacked.
“We went down a hallway shouting to find out who was there. One youth came out and said he was getting out of there. I told him he wasn’t and grabbed him. Then the other one turned up and Mathew grabbed him.
“I tried to hold on but, bearing in mind I was 70 at the time, he got the better of me and both of them escaped. I still had hold of his baseball cap though. At least they only got away empty-handed.”
The incident took place in April 2003 but the neighbours are pleased to be receiving recognition for their efforts today.
Among the other recipients of a Lothian and Borders Police Meritorious Award will be Pc Richard Anderson, based at St Leonard’s Police Station, and Pc Gavin Sim and Pc Steward Lamb, both from Wester Hailes Police Station.
The officers arrested an armed man wielding a nine-inch knife and baseball bat in the Comely Bank area in December 2004. They improvised using a police riot shield to help restrain the man before making an arrest.
OTHERS who were due to receive bravery awards today:
Lothian and Borders Police Bravery Awards
• Jason Gillespie, from Bathgate, was driving along the A899 in Livingston last February when he spotted a man leaning over the barrier on the Almond Valley Bridge. Mr Gillespie managed to grab the man, who had threatened to jump off, until police arrived. He also receives a certificate from the Royal Humane Society.
• Daniel Zamorano, 30, from the Canongate area, witnessed an attack on a victim by two men on Greenside Place in April last year. Mr Zamorano and passers-by tried to intervene. Police arrived and he gave them descriptions and helped catch one hiding in a stairwell.
• William Hill, 44, from Edinburgh, fought an arson attack at a block of flats in Sciennes. He extinguished the flames before the fire service arrived and ensured the rescue of 25 residents from that landing alone.
• Lesley Allan, 40, from Merchiston, spotted two youths running down the Canongate with a briefcase. She tripped up one of the suspects who dropped the briefcase, which had been stolen from a tourist.
• Pc Keith Scott, Pc Ian Sneddon, and Pc Ross Di Carlo, all based at Corstorphine Police Station, encountered a man with a large knife in a flat in Murrayburn in November 2004. They disarmed him and brought the incident to a safe conclusion.
• Esme Palmer, 17, from Mayfield, saw a man collapse in Morningside, December 2004. She gave him CPR until an ambulance arrived.
• Ian Warren, 48, from Baberton, tackled a drunk man going berserk at an address in Dalry in December 2004. The paramedic pinned him against a wall until the police came.
• David Lee, 45, from Musselburgh, chased a disqualified driver who had been tracked by police. He caught the fleeing suspect after scaling an eight-foot wall.
• Pc Debra Gray and paramedic Tracey Lee Armit , found an injured woman who had fallen from a third floor window in Haddington, in February last year. They tended to her in a blizzard for almost an hour till help arrived.
Chief Constable’s Commendation
• Pc Robert MacKenzie and Pc Kay Syme, both based in Livingston, responded to a call from St John’s Hospital in October 2004, where a woman patient had gone missing. They found she was threatening to jump off Burnbank Bridge and talked her down.
• Sergeant Graham Monteith, based in Penicuik, and Pc Lorraine Matthews, based in Loanhead, were called to an incident in Penicuik in October 2004 where a woman was intent on harming herself with a knife. They calmed her down and disarmed her.
• Ambulance technician Neil McDonald, based in Greenbank Drive, helped capture a disqualified driver who led police on a 70mph chase through a housing estate in Buckstone.
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