RCMP Watch

(The Northern Light) - For the second time in about six months, a local Mountie is being hailed as a hero.

Corporal Daniel Melanson of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, jumped into action when he responded to a 911 call of a boater in trouble. Around 2:10 p.m. on May 3, the officer was nearing the end of his shift at the Belledune detachment when the call came in that a canoe with two men had overturned in the frigid waters of the Bay of Chaleur near Gagnon Road.

“The scene of the accident is actually quite near the detachment, about two minutes away, and I got there quite quickly,” he said, noting he sighted an overturned about 30 metres (100 feet) offshore.

“I saw a canoe upside down and a few feet away from it I saw a man completely submerged, with only his hands above the water holding onto the side.”

Cpl. Melanson said there were a few bystanders watching the scene unfold, and one said the man had been in the water for about 15 minutes.

“One person tried to help out but the water was very cold. I hesitated to go in because I thought he was already dead and I didn’t want to take the chance that someone else would end up dead.”

The air temperature was about 13 degrees Celsius but the water temperature at the time was about three degrees Celsius.

The Mountie said when he saw the man’s head come out of the water, he knew he was still alive and needed help.

“I took off my belt and vest and ran in his direction.”

Standing six feet and four inches tall, Cpl. Melanson was able to get most of the way out to the man before he had to swim.

“I didn’t have to swim that far but if I had to swim all the way out to him I’m not sure we would have made it back to shore…the water was really cold. I can swim but and I’m not that great a swimmer.”

He said when he got to the man he was having a lot of difficulties, going in and out of consciousness.

“When we got to shore the ambulance was there and they took over. His eyes were open but he wasn’t responding when we spoke to him. He was clearly suffering from hypothermia.”

Cpl. Melanson said the whole thing was over in a matter of minutes.

“I went back to my patrol car and turned the heat on high. Then I went to the detachment and finished my shift.”

His shift ended at 5 p.m., three hours after the call had come in.

The man rescued was 45-year-old Benjamin River resident Glenn Moore.

Cpl. Melanson wants people to take this near drowning as an opportunity to remember to wear their lifejackets.

On Oct. 23, 2007, it was Cpl. Melanson who first noted a suspicious van on Route 11 as he was returning home. He radioed dispatch to let other members know of the suspicious vehicle. The next day the same van was spotted in Campbellton and by the end of the day, one of America’s Most Wanted, Richard Lee McNair, was in custody at the Campbellton detachment.

While not involved in the actual takedown, he was honoured for having noticed the van the day before. Had he not called the van’s plate and description into dispatch, Mr. McNair might still be on the loose.