Police Commissioner pleased officers’ bravery recognised by top honours

New Zealand Police welcomes today’s announcement that five police officers are among11 recipients of New Zealand Bravery Awards for their heroic actions in saving or attempting to save people’s lives.

Two Waikato police dog handlers have been awarded the New Zealand Bravery Decoration for an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger.

Two Counties Manukau officers and a recently retired Bay of Plenty police officer receive New Zealand Bravery Medals for their acts of bravery.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said the officers risked their own lives and did so without hesitation.

“New Zealand Police is incredibly proud that their bravery has been recognised.

I have congratulated them and know that they are delighted, albeit humbled, by these awards.

“Their bravery epitomises the high standards and the extent to which our people go in putting people, especially victims, at the centre of what we do. The officers don’t see themselves as heroes but they are to us, to their families, friends and to many in the wider community.”

Commissioner Bush said the varied nature of the incidents attended by the award recipients illustrated the breadth of policing, the dangers, and the immediacy of decision making.

“The individual incidents included family violence in Papatoetoe, a distressed victim and an agitated and stressed man armed with knives.

“In Hamilton, police dog handlers used their knowledge of a man’s violent history and propensity to carry guns to take swift and decisive action, preventing the escalation of further violence, despite one of them being injured when the shotgun was discharged while they were grappling with the offender.

“In Tauranga an officer first on the scene at a crash didn’t hesitate to strip off and plunge five metres into cold, dark and swirling water, swimming out to rescue a passenger who was floundering after escaping from the van. Tragically, the van driver was trapped and did not survive.”

The Commissioner also paid tribute to the other Bravery Award recipients. These included a St Leonards, Dunedin, man who was shot at as he responded to his next door neighbour’s cry for help in a family violence situation which sadly claimed the lives of two young children.

Two men who saved the lives of house fire victims in Auckland and Hamilton were also incredibly brave, as were two doctors and a paramedic working on the CTV site in the immediate aftermath of the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch.

An investiture ceremony will be held in the coming months for the award recipients.

The NZ Police recipients and their citations are:

Senior Constable Blair Spalding, NZBD
For an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger.
On 25 August 2014 in Hamilton a van was stolen by an offender with a history of violent crime and methamphetamine use. Constable Blair Spalding (now Senior Constable) responded and pursued the van into a traffic-heavy road, where he attempted to pass to warn traffic ahead and create a buffer between civilian traffic and the van.
The van swerved into oncoming traffic to prevent Constable Spalding from overtaking. Given his knowledge of the offender’s propensity to carry firearms, Constable Spalding deemed it an unacceptable risk to allow the van into the central city and pulled alongside the van, at which point it swerved and came in contact with Constable Spalding’s police dog van. Constable Spalding pushed the van off the road and across the footpath, before it broke free and continued along the street, eventually entering the carpark of a supermarket via the exit lane and colliding with a vehicle that was leaving. The offender left the van carrying a loaded sawn-off shotgun.
Constable Spalding entered the car park and swung around the cut the offender off. The offender, now on foot, ran into the side of the dog van before continuing and attempting to take another vehicle at gunpoint from an elderly woman at the supermarket’s petrol pumps. Constable Spalding exited his vehicle and encountered the offender grappling with Constable Ben Turner. Constable Spalding ran to assist and held one of the offender’s arms, while Constable Turner restrained the other arm. During the struggle both barrels of the shotgun went off and Constable Spalding suffered puncture wounds to his left foot and leg, while the offender caught ricochet pellets to his leg and torso. The offender was properly restrained once another police officer engaged the offender with his dog and handcuffs were able to be applied.

Constable Ben Turner, NZBD
For an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger.
On 25 August 2014 in Hamilton a van was stolen by an offender with a history of violent crime and methamphetamine use. The Police pursued the vehicle, knowing that the offender had a propensity to carry firearms and deeming it an unacceptable risk to allow the van into the central city. Police pursued the van to a supermarket carpark, where it collided with another vehicle. The offender then left the van carrying a loaded sawn-off shotgun.
Constable Turner arrived at the supermarket carpark in a police dog van and saw the offender attempt to take another vehicle at gunpoint from an elderly woman at the supermarket’s petrol pumps. Fearing for the woman’s safety, Constable Turner ran over and grabbed the offender and dragged him away from her car.
Knowing the offender had the shotgun in his right hand, he swung the offender around by his left arm to keep him moving and off balance. At that point Constable Blair Spalding arrived and assisted Constable Turner by holding the offender’s right arm.

Both barrels of the shotgun went off and Constable Spalding suffered puncture wounds to his left foot and leg, while the offender caught ricochet pellets to his leg and torso. A police dog handler arrived and set his dog on the offender, before supplying Constable Turner with handcuffs to restrain the violently struggling offender.

Sergeant Ryan Lilleby, NZBM
For an act of bravery.
On 27 July 2014 Sergeant Lilleby attended a family violence callout to a house in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe, along with two other officers.
A woman met the police officers outside the property and stated that her husband was inside armed with a knife and was threatening self-harm, having earlier threatened to kill her with a knife. Sergeant Lilleby observed the man through an open window and told him to drop his knives, to which the man responded by beginning to cut his wrist with a large kitchen knife.
The police officers bypassed the locked front door and entered the house, finding the man sitting on a couch with two knives. Sergeant Lilleby and another officer aimed their Tasers at the man and instructed him to drop the knives. When this was ignored the other officer fired his Taser, which had no effect in subduing the man. The man then stood and charged at the police officers with both knives outstretched. Sergeant Lilleby fired his Taser, again to no effect, before the police officers became separated as they attempted to back out of the room.
One police officer was cornered in the kitchen by the man, who tried to stab him in the stomach with the larger knife, but the blade was stopped by his stab-resistant body armour. As the man tried to stab the officer in the neck with the smaller knife, Sergeant Lilleby grabbed the man from behind while he still had both knives and wrestled him to the floor.

Sergeant Lilleby struck the man in the head to momentarily stun him, allowing Sergeant Lilleby to restrain him further until he was handcuffed by the third police officer.

Constable Chris McDowell, NZBM
For an act of bravery.
On 27 July 2014 Constable Chris McDowell (now Sergeant) attended a family violence callout to a house in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe, along with two other police officers.
A woman met the police officers outside the property and stated that her husband was inside armed with a knife and was threatening self-harm, having earlier threatened to kill her with the knife. One of the officers observed the man through an open window and told him to drop his knives, to which the man responded by beginning to cut his wrist with a large kitchen knife.
Constable McDowell then broke a glass panel to bypass the locked front door and the three police officers entered the house, finding the man sitting on a couch with two knives. Constable McDowell and a second officer aimed their Tasers at the man and instructed him to drop the knives.

When this was ignored, Constable McDowell fired his Taser, which had no effect in subduing the man.
The man then stood and charged at the police officers with both knives outstretched. The police officers became separated as they attempted to back out of the room. Constable McDowell was cornered in the kitchen by the man, who tried to stab him in the stomach with the larger knife, but the blade was stopped by his stab-resistant border armour. As the man tried to stab Constable McDowell in the neck with the smaller knife, the second police officer grabbed the man from behind while he still had both knives, and wrestled him to the floor. After a violent struggle the three police officers were able to disarm and arrest the man.

Senior Constable Deane O’Connor, NZBM
For an active of bravery.
On the evening of 12 August 2013, shortly after 6pm, a vehicle travelling on the Maungatapu Causeway Bridge towards Mount Maunganui crossed the centreline into the path of an oncoming van. The van and its two occupants spun into the railing of the bridge, crashing through it and dropping five metres into the Tauranga Harbour. The van then sank rapidly to the harbour floor with both occupants in the vehicle.
The driver was trapped in the van and did not survive. The passenger managed to force his way out and was floundering in the water, wit a relatively strong incoming tidal flow taking him away from the bridge and further into the harbour. Senior Constable O’Connor was the first police officer to arrive at the scene. He assessed the situation and stipped down to his underwear, jumped into the harbour, and swam approximately 150m to the passenger, who was extremely distressed and panicking. Senior Constable O’Connor grabbed the passenger and rolled him onto his back, supporting him on his chest and communicated with him to calm him down. Senior Constable O’Connor then towed the passenger, rescue fashion, for some 40 minutes in the dark to the opposite shoreline.
Both men suffered from hypothermia and were taken to hospital for treatment. Senior Constable O’Connor placed himself at risk to provide assistance to the passenger who, given the conditions, was unlikely to have been able to rescue himself.

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