Hero given award for rooftop rescue
Published: March 23, 2007
A HEROIC policeman who caught a man falling from a rooftop and held him dangling from the edge for an hour has been commended for his actions.
Acting sergeant Tim Bott, 41, was called to a terrace house in South Road last June, after reports of a man cutting himself with a knife on a rooftop and threatening to jump off.
After being persuaded to drop the weapon the man fell, only being saved from crashing three storeys to the ground by Sgt Bott, who grabbed his leg.
Despite being in excruciating pain from pulled muscles and a back injury, the officer clung on for 60 minutes before the man was secured with rope and taken down by firefighters.
Kent’s Chief Constable Mike Fuller presented Sgt Bott with a certificate for his actions last Wednesday but it was not the first time the Newingreen resident had been rewarded for his bravery.
In 2000 he was presented with a medal after saving a woman from plummeting 80 feet from a rooftop in Folkestone.
He joked: “People think I just go patrolling roofs looking for people to rescue. One of my friends said he’s going to make me a cape.”
After the incident in Tower Hamlets Sgt Bott, who previously won an edition of TV quiz The Weakest Link, stayed in close contact with the man he rescued and says he is now progressing well.
He added: “It was very nice for my actions to be recognised but, to me, stopping someone from dying and helping them move on is the best part of it.”
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