The cop who made his way across a frozen lake to save three children who died after falling in is a “hero” student officer and will be back on the job in a few days. It was one of the first rotations for the operations officer of the early 20s, having joined the force in the spring when 10-year-old Jack Johnson and two other boys, ages 8 and 11, fell into the lake at the Babbs Mill conservation area in Solihull, West Midlands.
Although the young operations officer risked his life to save them, the three boys died after the ice was broken. A fourth child, aged six, remains in critical condition while gifts were placed among bouquets of flowers, balloons and candy near the lake.
Reports yesterday revealed that a 13-year-old girl had also tried to rescue the children.
The heroic officer whose efforts to drill through the ice and rescue the boys left him with a bloody hand and hypothermia, he is currently on his scheduled days off.
However, he intends to return to normal work next week after recovering from the event.
The young man’s colleagues described him as a “hero” who “put his own life at risk.”
Rich Cooke, chairman of the West Midlands Police Federation, told The Telegraph: “I just spoke to him today. He’s doing ok. He’s a young officer like a lot of the officers that would have attended initially,” reports Express.
Mr Cooke added that the new officer had already “been through a lot since he joined”, due to the “higher concentration of traumatic incidents on lots of personnel” in “uniformed policing nowadays,” reports Express.
He said the association supported the officers and said they did everything they could to save the boys.
Witness Sandra Colley, 52, added to the outlet that she was with him in the police car where he was “shaking” after the crash.
She said: “He was very quiet. All he said was that children had fallen through the ice and were trapped beneath,” reports Express.
Onlookers cheered as officers departed, while Solihull Police also tweeted their “heartfelt thanks” to the community for their “overwhelming” support from all branches of the emergency services who helped with the rescue and have since.
After the event, various police and fire services issued warnings about children playing on frozen lakes, while the Royal Society of Life Savings called for making swimming lessons more accessible to children across the country.
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