PC Chelsea Rudge and PC Christopher Beevers were South Yorkshire Police\u2019s nominees for the National Police Bravery Awards 2016. They were nominated after fighting off and arresting a murder suspect while trying to rescue an unconscious man from a fire.<\/p>\n
They talked about their experience as they prepared to go into a reception at Downing Street with all the other nominees from England and Wales.<\/p>\n
Q: How do you feel being at Downing Street?<\/strong><\/p>\n PC Chelsea Rudge: Quite excited. It\u2019s a new day, isn\u2019t it, for everyone. So, looking forward to it.<\/p>\n PC Christopher Beevers: I think it\u2019s a great honour. I feel very proud to be coming here. I\u2019ve never been to Downing Street, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever get this close again, looking forward to it.<\/p>\n Q: Tell us\u00a0about your nomination.<\/strong><\/p>\n PC Christopher Beevers: It came in as someone just running down the road calling for help. As soon as we got there it was clear that there was a male who we thought was unconscious in the doorway. Myself and Chelsea, we got him to the middle of the road, Chelsea\u2019s done CPR and then two males that were with him initially who turned out to be suspects for the murder in the end, ran into a flat above that was full of smoke, so I\u2019ve gone in to evacuate them, got those out and I\u2019ve evacuated some nearby flats. Meanwhile Chelsea\u2019s been trying to give lifesaving treatment to the, unfortunately, fatally injured male.<\/p>\n Q: You\u2019re there doing CPR, trying to save somebody\u2019s life. What was going through your mind as that was happening?<\/strong><\/p>\n PC Chelsea Rudge: I was mainly trying to concentrate on two things, because obviously when we first got there, there was just myself and Chris, there was no one else, no other resources, even travelling we were first pulled up. I wanted to try and do my best for this gentleman, but I also had to think about my colleague and obviously helping get other people out of the house, so my mind was in two places all the time. But you just do what you do.<\/p>\n Q: And obviously you were running into danger where other people would run away. You hear a lot of police officers say, \u2018It\u2019s part of the job\u2019. What do you think about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n PC Christopher Beevers: I think we\u2019d both say the same. You don\u2019t have time to think. We\u2019re just first on scene, there\u2019s someone who\u2019s fatally injured, you don\u2019t know how bad it is, and your first priority is just saving life.<\/p>\n PC Chelsea Rudge: It\u2019s just instinct.<\/p>\n PC Christopher Beevers: Fear doesn\u2019t come into it until afterwards when you kind of think about what could have happened.<\/p>\n