WA: Police officer didn t think twice about daring rescue

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2000
WA: Police officer didn t think twice about daring rescue

A police officer who rescued three people from a river during a storm says he didn't
think twice about diving in despite not being a strong swimmer.

Governor-General Sir WILLIAM DEANE has announced that Senior Constable SYMON BAGLEY
is to be awarded a bravery medal for his efforts.

Constable BAGLEY arrived at a flooded river west of Northampton, 475km north of Perth,
on May 26 last year to find three people clinging to the branches of a tree, about 50
metres from the riverbank.

The policeman tied a tyre tube around his waist which was attached by a rope to the
roo bar of his car and plunged into the waters.

But the force of the current quickly swept him out of the tube and down the river.

He managed to grab onto the branches of a tree and swing himself onto it, from where
he was able to throw a rope to the stranded people.

After several attempts, Constable BAGLEY rescued the trio and afterwards spent two
days in hospital with rope burns, bruising and suffering hypothermia.

He describes the incident as the most dramatic in his ten-year police career - all
the more so because he never considered himself a good swimmer.

AAP alm/sd/dmc

KEYWORD: BRAVERY BAGLEY (PERTH)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.