Heroism in it's ordinary form

I came across a story on the web today that will probably dissapear before long. It struck me as a profound example of heroism in it's simplest ordinary form, which is often more remarkable than the shiny popular examples of heroism we tend to pay attention to. I'll let the below text, and the amazing photo, speak for itself.

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A man is dead after the car he was driving crashed into the waters of Sydney's Botany Bay today.

The death occurred despite a remarkable rescue attempt by local police officer Bruce Jarvis, who commandeered a mask, flippers and oxygen tank from a local dive shop on his way to the scene, arriving at the location of the accident before the police diving crew.

He said other police officers and some witnesses had already tried to swim out to the car, but the water was too deep for anyone to reach the vehicle without diving equipment.

Without donning a wetsuit he dove 10 metres underwater to reach the car and struggled through the debris to free the driver who was trapped by his seatbelt.

“The current was running and also I was trying not to get myself tangled up with the vehicle on the bottom of the water," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

Sgt Jarvis managed to free the 40-year-old from the submerged vehicle. The man was taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition but was declared dead shortly after his arrival.

Sargeant Jarvis said he had hoped to save the man because conditions were so cold and that had been known to keep people alive underwater longer.

"(I was) just hoping that we could get a good outcome of helping this gentleman, bearing in mind that it was pretty cold, and you do hear stories of people recovering from when they have been in the cold without oxygen for a while," he said

Sergeant Jarvis said he was underwater for up to ten minutes before finally freeing the man.

He said the water was dark and murky, forcing him to feel his way until he found the driver still strapped in the ute by his seatbelt.

"It was very cold. It was enough to take your breath away."

Initial reports suggested there was a second person in the vehicle, but police later ruled that out.

Sgt Jervis offered his condolences to the man's family.

"Unfortunately it was the only thing we could really do."

One unnamed witness said the driver tried in vain to escape the sinking vehicle.

"He couldn't get out," the woman told Macquarie Radio.

"He was trying to get out, yelling to people.

"There was a man that went to swim to try and help him get him, but by the time he got to him the car had sunk because it had filled up with water."

The utility was reportedly submerged for up to 40 minutes.

The car, which was towing a boat, swerved across three lanes of traffic on General Holmes Drive before plunging down an embankment into the Cooks River at Kyeemagh about 1.15pm, police said.

The ute then became detached from the boat and drifted out into the river where it became submerged in 10-15 metres of water.

Forensic examiners are on the scene.

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Sargent Bruce Jarvis strikes me as something of a laconic master of the understatement. I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that this is not how he is expected to respond to emergency situations. You wouldnt find it in his Position Description. Looking around on the web I find that he is a trained St Johns Ambulance diver with an extensive diving background, so he's obviously no neophyte, but still.

Take a look at that picture. Quick thinking guy, grabbing that gear. Cool as a cucumber, by the looks, getting dressed and heading straight in.

He makes it sound pretty easy, but a murky river, ten metres down, cold as fuck, in a hard current, with snags and wreckage - that's a long way from some leisurely finning around a reef up on the Great Barrier. Not to mention, cool or not in the above article, likely to have been under a fair degree of tension and stress while he was doing it.

I'm sure that Sgt Jarvis won't be buying any beers after work for a while, and I've a good feeling that he'll find himself up for a gong or two in the next twelve months. But I think an example of heroism such as this is such an important lesson, it should be taught in schools for the next ten years, and not left to be remembered only by those directly involved and affected.

I'm no fan of the Police Force, most people who know me understand that. But I'm a great and huge fan of Police who do their jobs the way an officer should do their job - and this guy has clearly got whatever the right stuff is, by bucket load after bucket load. Well done Sargent, well done indeed.

Credit to The Daily Telegraph, AAP and journalists Carrie Berdon & Adam Bennet for the above plagarism of their reports.