Kaitaia cop honoured for heroic beach rescue

Kaitaia police Constable Darren Critchley with his Police Association Bravery Award. PHOTO / Peter Jackson

Kaitaia Highway Patrol officer Constable Darren Critchley has received the highest honour the Police Association can bestow for a dramatic rescue on Ninety Mile Beach

He was one of two officers, both nominated by their colleagues, to receive the association's bravery award.

The award recognises an act of extraordinary bravery that exemplifies the traditional and highest ideals of policing, above and beyond the reasonable expectations of a police officer performing their duty. It was presented at the association's 82nd annual conference in Wellington last week.

Mr Critchley had finished work on December 14 last year when he heard that people were in trouble at Hukatere, on Ninety Mile Beach. He immediately drove there, entering the rough surf and reaching a man who was at the point of losing his battle to stay afloat.

After returning him to the beach, he was told that German tourist Caroline Jentsch was still in the water. By the time he reached her she had drowned, but he managed to get her on to a surfboard and attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When it became clear that she could not be revived he had to break the news of her death to her distraught friends.

"That was the hardest part," he said.

"Telling people that someone has died doesn't get any easier. By the time I was told that the woman was still in the water I was spent, but I would never have not gone back out."

He acknowledged Ms Jentsch's family, and thanked everyone who had been on the beach and assisted. Now he was working with the Far North District Council to have signs erected on the beach, particularly at Hukatere, warning that it could be dangerous for swimmers.

Senior Constable Ross Andrew rescued the driver and a passenger from their partially submerged cab after a truck and trailer plunged 50m into the Manawatu Gorge in July last year, lying beside the seriously injured driver for an hour to shelter him from the wind until a rescue helicopter arrived.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said both officers showed extraordinary courage.

"It is very clear that not only did they place themselves in serious danger once; in each case they went back in to find the second person," he said.

"To be awarded the association's bravery award is the highest honour we can bestow . . . and I am tremendously proud to be associated with two officers who performed so outstandingly."

This is not the first time that Mr Critchley's heroism has been recognised.

In 1991, shortly after joining police in his native England, he went into the Ribble River in Lancashire to try to save a 14-year-old boy. He retrieved the body of the teenager and was awarded the Liverpool Shipwreck Society Award.