Brave Police Officer Helps To Save The Life Of Drowning Woman

A local police officer has helped to save a woman's life who was in difficulty in the water at South Quay last night.

At about 9PM a 38 year old female was heard screaming for help near the Solway Harvester.

She was unable to maintain her head above the surface of the water so before the coastgaurd arrived Pc  David Schumacher jumped in to help.

The police officer has already been awarded for rescuing a person in difficulty, off Douglas beach last September.

Police are commending his bravery and have said without his help the incident would have ended in tragedy.

Both the woman and police officer were admitted to Nobles with hypothermia but have since been released.

Inspector Mark Britton commented 'This officer took the particularly difficult and brave decision to enter the inky black icy cold waters. I admire him for the decision and when I arrived he was still in the water. We do not encourage anyone to enter the water and this officer has done this twice now to affect a rescue, to have to do so once within one’s service is rare, but to have to do it twice in such a short time is incredible. This officer put himself in harm’s way to rescue this lady and I personally salute his bravery. I would also like to pay tribute to the officers from the Coastguard Service who also entered the water at that time. Once they entered the water the rescue was far from over. In order to get her to safety the personnel from the Coastguard had to bring her to the nearest safe exit point some forty yards away. Pc Schumacher swam that distance through the seaweed and debris. He was taken immediately to hospital suffering the effects of hypothermia, he was discharged a short while later. The Coastguard continued with the rescue bringing the female to shore, into an ambulance and to hospital, she was also feeling the effects of hypothermia.'

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