Top honour for police officers who used their car to cushion suicidal man's fall in Crawley

Their plan worked to perfection. The man let go and crashed down from the bridge in Ifield Avenue, Crawley. But instead of plummeting into the road where the impact would almost certainly have killed him he landed on the roof of the car and survived the fall.

Now the two officers, PCs Rebecca Kift and Pete King-Fisher, along with other police involved in the incident, PCs Alex Hammond, Chesney Jones and Jordan Smith, have all been awarded Royal Humane Society Certificates of Commendation for saving the man’s life.

And PCs Kift and King-Fisher have won particular praise for their “initiative” in using their vehicle to cushion the man’s fall.

The incident happened just after 11.00 on the evening of 4 February this year (2020) at the a footbridge at the Crawley Avenue junction with Ifield Avenue.

PC Jones had been alerted that there was a man on the wrong side of the bridge which is over a dual carriageway.

When he arrived at the scene he man told him he wanted to end his life. PC Jones talked to him and was then joined by PCs Hammond and Smith. However, the man slipped off the edge and was left hanging from the bridge holding on to the rails. The three officers tried to hold him through the railings to prevent him from falling.

It was at that point that PCs Kift and King-Fisher arrived saw what was happening and realised that the only hope reducing the impact on the man if he did fall was to position their car so that it could reduce the distance he would fall and let the roof cushion the impact.

An Emergency Medical Service doctor said later by putting the car where they did the two officers certainly prevented the man receiving serious injuries and probably saved his life.

Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society in announcing the awards said: “It was a truly brilliant spur of the moment idea and a life-saver. The two officers showed great initiative in thinking as they did and putting their unique plan into action instantly. In all the years that we have been making awards no-one has ever come across something like this. The damage caused to the car was a very small price to pay for the life-saving outcome of the incident.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. 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 depending on the bravery involved.

The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and 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.