A trip to the beach with the kids turned into an heroic life-saving experience – now Constable Aaron Burgess from Dunedin is being honoured with a bravery award.
Aaron is to receive a Royal Humane Society Silver Medal – from the Governor-General at Government House in Wellington - in recognition of his act of bravery in saving a woman from drowning at Tomahawk Beach in January 2016.
It was a hot day and Aaron decided a swim would be a good way to cool off. They’d not long been there when a woman approached and said her friend had been knocked over by a wave and was being swept out to sea.
“Without really thinking about it, I passed my mobile phone to the woman and said ‘call for help and keep an eye on my kids’, and I headed into the surf,” says Aaron.
“It was a case of someone needs some help and I’m the only one who can do it.”
Big surf and a strong rip made it slow-going – it took a good five to six minutes for Aaron to get out to the woman, who was past the surf line.
“When I got to her she was quite panicky. I managed to calm her and get her on her back.
“It took quite a while to get back in. People on the beach lost sight of us both at one stage. We were being hammered by the surf.
“When we were nearly back at the beach I was really starting to feel it. I remember thinking – ‘I’ve just got another minute or so to go’ and I had just had to grit my teeth and keep going.”
Closer in, another beachgoer helped to pull the woman out of the water. By now emergency services, including a helicopter and an IRB from St Clair beach, had arrived.
“I was utterly exhausted when I got out. But I had known while I was out there that if I had to save myself I probably could have.”
The woman was hospitalised for a night. Aaron put his shoulder out but was otherwise OK.
About a month later, the woman and her friend from the beach visited Aaron.
“We had a cup of tea and chatted about what had happened. She was very thankful of course – she felt I had saved her life. She’s an artist and she gave me a painting of a beach scene which I’ve got up on my wall.”
As for the bravery award, Aaron says it’s an honour – but that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Superintendent Paul Basham, Southern District Commander, says Aaron’s bravery on that day is a credit to him and his family.
“His selflessness and instinctive reaction quite clearly saved her life. These are characteristics that we as police officers bring to our jobs each and every day, but they were on show in abundance by Aaron that day.
“Congratulations to Aaron – it is an award well deserved, and we are very proud of him.”
At the time Aaron was waiting to start his initial training at the Royal New Zealand Police College. He graduated from Wing 298 in August 2016.
“We are regularly dealing with people at their lowest point or in their last moments and there’s often high emotion,” he says. “But there’s been nothing yet for me to match what happened that day at Tomahawk.”