"You’re a hero, Bro"
"You’re a hero, Bro"
Even people he has arrested were impressed by Senior Constable Adrian Oldham’s rescue of a 77-year-old woman from a house fire in the Bay of Plenty.
Adrian, who has served in Police for 35 years, says he was told “You’re a hero, Bro” at the supermarket by former adversaries after word got out about the rescue.
The story has been widely reported across New Zealand media after Adrian addressed a news conference this week.
He was on patrol in Mount Maunganui on Sunday night when he came across the house fire. He saw a woman in the house but she collapsed before she could open the door.
Adrian smashed a window and crawled in zero visibility through acrid smoke to find the unconscious woman, then dragged her to a window where his colleague Constable Shane McCarthy helped get her to safety.
He told media: “I would do the same thing again at the drop of a hat. It doesn't matter if it's somebody's nanny or someone with a patch on their back, you do it. It's a human life.”
The woman issued a statement from hospital, saying: “He was just absolutely amazing. I could not have wished for anybody better.”
Commissioner Mike Bush says there could be no better demonstration of the outstanding work of New Zealand Police members to keep people safe in their communities.
Click here for an interview with Adrian and on the following links for some of the other coverage:
- sunlive: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/76613-heroic-cop-would-do-it-again.html
- Bay of Plenty Times: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11289677
- One News: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/policeman-pulls-elderly-woman-burning-home-video-6022364
Photo: sunlive.co.nz