Rookie officer who tried valiantly to save a man’s life wins Essex Police Bravery Award

AN ESSEX Police officer who was off duty as he courageously broke into a house in a valiant attempt to save a young man’s life has won an Essex Police Federation Bravery Award.

PC Toby Wells was walking his dog around fields near to his house in Braintree in between preparing a special dinner to mark an anniversary with his fiancé in January 2019 when a young woman came running towards him.

She was screaming that her boyfriend had hung himself.

“I hadn’t been to anything like this on duty or off duty,” recalls the officer, who had only been in the job for a year at the time of the incident.

Taking control and telling her to call an ambulance, PC Wells rushed over to the nearby flats where the woman had come from, but he couldn’t work out where the man.

The woman urged him to look through a letterbox, and he could see the young man’s feet dangling in the hallway.

With no second thought, the officer quickly kicked the door down and lifted the man up, hoping it would instantly revive him, but he didn’t respond.

The man, aged just 21, had hung himself by a belt from the loft hatch, so PC Wells immediately ran into the kitchen to fetch a knife so he could cut him down.

A neighbour had been banging on the door, and after PC Wells let her in, they both began to try and resuscitate the man.

The officer carried on giving CPR as rapid response teams arrived, but tragically, they could not save the young man’s life.

“I was stood outside and gave my details to an officer I recognised, a Braintree officer, and then went home, and someone came round and knocked on the door and checked on me a while after. Everyone was really good,” PC Wells said.

“The man’s girlfriend was really sweet because she must have been going through all sorts. She wrote something in to one of our bosses to say thank you, and I got a letter to say someone had spoken to the girlfriend and she thanked me and said I was like a knight in shining armour coming to help.”

PC Wells added: “It feels a bit weird getting an Award for it because there are a lot of people who’ve saved lives, but it’s nice to get appreciated.

“Hundreds of coppers do things like this every day, and they just go under the radar, so it’s nice when things get recognised.”

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said PC Wells had courageously run towards the unknown and done everything he could have done to try and save the man’s life.

“It was one of those tragic incidents which are just so heartbreaking for everyone involved,” said Laura. “It shows how police officers are never off duty and how we never know what we will be confronted with when we go through that door.

“Toby did so much to try and help the man and his loved ones, and we have subsequently heard that they really appreciate his actions that day. His work was impeccable for such a young in service officer who was off duty. We are very proud of him.”

PC Wells will attend the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards – which will combine celebrating the 2020 and 2021 winners – in Essex in September.

The Awards are sponsored by Uniform Mortgages.