(CBC News) – An RCMP constable in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., has received a medal for rescuing two people from drowning in the icy waters of the Beaufort Sea in the summer.
Const. Shaun De Grandpre was honoured by the Lifesaving Society of Alberta and the Northwest Territories at a ceremony Monday in Yellowknife.
De Grandpre, who is originally from Ottawa, received a Lifesaving Medal with a Bar for Bravery, as well as a Commendation Citation, for saving a man and woman from the sea near Tuktoyaktuk on June 30.
“The only thing that I was thinking about at that time was just getting in there and trying to help them as fast as I could,” De Grandpre told CBC News at Monday’s ceremony.
In the early morning of June 30, De Grandpre and other RCMP officer were called to the shore, where they found a man and woman struggling to stay afloat about 100 metres offshore.
The officers were told the man was highly intoxicated and was attempting to commit suicide by drowning in the ice-strewn sea. The man’s girlfriend was trying to save him.
De Grandpre removed his duty belt, vest and other RCMP gear, then swam out into the sea, which at the time had a water temperature of about 0 C.
“My muscles were shutting down; I could feel it. They were tightening up and it was hard to even walk,” De Grandpre recalled.
“I reached the two individuals. I realized that they were both completely exhausted and just struggling to stay above water,” he added. “I grabbed both of them [and] swim back as close to shore as I could.”
De Grandpre helped the woman to a point where she could touch the bottom, then he went back to retrieve the man. The man resisted the rescue, but the officer managed to drag him to shore.
“I wasn’t angry at him, no,” De Grandpre said of the man. “I knew in the state of mind that he was at, he wasn’t thinking clearly.”
At the time of the rescue, De Grandpre had just six months of RCMP service under his belt, according to members of the six-person Tuktoyaktuk detachment.
“What a humanitarian act that was, and my congratulations go out to him,” said N.W.T. Commissioner George Tuccaro, who presented the lifesaving medal to De Grandpre.
Nunakput MLA Jackie Jacobson, whose constituency includes Tuktoyaktuk, said the community won’t soon forget what De Grandpre did that day.
You will not read a plethora of good news stories here RMR. You will find some here though:
http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=190&contentId=2144&categoryId=494&categoryKey=Incidents&languageId=1
and
http://bc.rcmp.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=404&languageId=1&contentId=8875
Get back to me with your thoughts.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Repeating myself, the below is so true:
Police Officers are similar to sheep dogs. The sheep are a little leery of the sheep dog. They sometimes have to move the sheep here and there. But when that Wolfe comes around they love that old sheep dog!
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Yeah, but nowday’s politically correct hiring policies ensure the police don’t always send Shepherds any more, they send poodles and Bishon’s to fight the big bad Wolf….
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Very impressive.
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Now let me see; An RCMP constable from Ottawa working in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., has received a Lifesaving Medal with a Bar for Bravery for rescuing two people from drowning in the icy waters of the Beaufort Sea on June 30th.
The police officer named De Grandpre told CBC; The only thing that I was thinking about at that time was just getting in there and trying to help them as fast as I could.
The officer(s) were told the man was highly intoxicated and was attempting to commit suicide by drowning in the ice-strewn sea and the man’s girlfriend was trying to save him.
De Grandpre removed his equipment and with his muscles shutting down and against all human reasoning he swam out approximately 100 yards into the sea at around 0* C where he reached the two individuals made an assessment that they were pretty much done as they were both struggling to stay above water.
De Grandpre helped the woman to a point where she could touch the bottom, then he went back to retrieve the man.
The man resisted the rescue, but the officer managed to drag him to shore. “I wasn’t angry at him, no,” De Grandpre said of the man. “I knew in the state of mind that he was at, he wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Well done, well done; this officer deserves a raise and a good promotion. He went way above the call of duty and even risked his own life to save, other lives. He is worth investing into this one.
I am very impressed by this man’s action, very impressed and how he thought and didn’t give up when the man resisted him shows compassion and duty bound and way above the norm.
I really enjoyed reading this story and I’m very happy this officer did what he did for this couple and I’m very glad also that he was not injured in doing so.
I hope this man and woman that he saved on June 30th will now act accordingly and realize they were both granted, by a random act of kindness, a second chance at life.
Now that the flood gate has been opened, a bit by this officer’s actions, I do hope I get a chance to read more of the above the call of duty types of stories in here, I call; TO SERVE and PROTECT.
Thanks for posting this article, it made my day.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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