Four Lurgan PSNI officers to get national recognition for saving life of suicidal man
FOUR Lurgan PSNI officers are to receive national awards after they saved the life of a suicidal man.
Constables Bigger, Gordon, McCullough and Wallace are to receive Certificates of Commendation for saving the man’s life.
They were alerted by a call from a woman who said the man had threatened to kill himself.
When the officers arrived at the man’s flat in Lurgan, they were met with a distressing scene.
The man was unconscious and barely breathing with blood on the floor and over the wall.
He appeared to be dead but Constables Bigger and McCullough found a pulse as they were trying to staunch the bleeding.
They then fought to control the bleeding for the next 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived and the man, who survived, was taken to hospital.
Last month the Royal Humane Society announced awards to Lurgan Constables, Hillen, Orr and a third officer who cannot be named, for saving a suicidal woman.
Announcing the awards for the officers who saved the suicidal man at the Royal Humane Society’s headquarters in London, the society’s secretary, Andrew
Major credit: Andrew Chapman
Chapman, said: “Thankfully the alarm was raised and the four constables arrived in time to save the man.
“It was a very close-run thing but they can take major credit for saving his life. If they had not arrived when they did he would almost certainly have bled to death. They did a superb job.”
No date has yet been fixed for the presentation of the awards.
The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries.
It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.
It was founded in 1774 by two of the day’s eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation. However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made.
The society also awards non-healthcare professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the society has made over 200,000 awards.
The society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.
It was one of a select number of organisations to receive a donation from the Patron’s Fund which was set up to acknowledge work done by organisations of which the Queen is the patron, to mark her 90th birthday.