Windsor Police Officer Receives Ontario Medal for Police Bravery

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This afternoon at a ceremony held in Toronto at Queen’s Park, Windsor Police Constable Susan McCormick received Ontario’s top honour for acts of exceptional bravery by a law enforcement officer – the Ontario Medal for Police Bravery.

The award was presented to Constable McCormick along with nine other police officers by The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, who was quoted as stating “The profound sense of bravery and duty exhibited by these recipients is an inspiration not only to their colleagues across the province but to all Ontarians”.

Constable McCormick was nominated for this award as a result of the exemplary conduct she displayed during the rescue of a suicidal man from the Detroit River on November 25th 2011.

On that evening, Constable McCormick and her partner were responding to a suicide attempt, where a middle-aged man had jumped into the Detroit River at the foot of Pillette Road in Reaume Park

The man, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, had prevented an earlier rescue by pushing away a life preserver that had been thrown into the water. Constable McCormick immediately spotted the male drifting face down along a fast moving current, approximately 25 feet from a break wall, she then removed her equipment and jumped into the river grabbing a life preserver that her partner had thrown into the water.

When Constable McCormick reached the victim he was without vital signs, she rolled him on his back, wrapped her right arm around his chest and held onto the life ring with her left and were pulled to shore by her partner. Several officers helped pull the man above the break wall and over to the paramedics who were able to successfully resuscitate him. Constable McCormick showed signs of hypothermia and was treated and released by the Emergency Medical Services.

It was noted by medical personnel and family members of the victim that had it not been for Constable McCormick’s heroic actions that day, the man would have died.