Bravery Celebrated At National Bravery Awards

THREE South Yorkshire Police officers who jumped into a freezing river following a fatal car crash were among the nominees at July’s National Police Bravery Awards.

Sgt Stuart Greatwood, Sgt Gary Reece and PC Paul Reeder swam out into a freezing river in a valiant attempt to save two men from a car in January 2021.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent accompanied the three officers to the London awards ceremony, which was held in front of an audience including Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Paul Fotheringham, President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, Tom Pursglove MP, and Andy Marsh, CEO of the College of Policing.

Steve said: “They thoroughly enjoyed the event. As always with these Police Bravery Awards, the officers were very humble, saying: ‘We were only doing our job’.

“We have to point out to them that no, it wasn’t just the job. What they did was extraordinary.”

It was fantastic to attend such a positive event, Steve added: “The Bravery Awards is one of the few times where there’s no criticism. It’s just an opportunity to highlight what our brave officers do up and down the country. So they had an absolutely great time. They were well looked after and hopefully they felt like kings for the day.”