Date: Mar 5, 2015

Victoria BC – Today, VicPD’s Acting Chief Steve Ing presented two VicPD Civic Service Awards to members of the Royal Canadian Navy for their part in saving a distraught man’s life.

On January 8th, while walking in the James Bay neighbourhood, the two sailors passed a person who was tinkering with their vehicle. The pair initially thought nothing of it.

Later in the night, the sailors walked back along the same route and noticed that the same vehicle was now running and had a pipe from the exhaust into the vehicle. They also saw someone inside.

With the cabin of the vehicle filling with exhaust, the two sailors sprang into action.

The vehicles doors were quickly open and they extracted the lone occupant, who was already in medical distress.

The sailors called police and paramedics and both arrived on scene shortly thereafter.

If not for the selfless actions of Leading Seaman Christopher Boyd and Leading Seaman Derek Cheetham, this person would have surely perished.

Their actions were noted by VicPD officers who nominated them for the award.

“It is an absolute pleasure to acknowledge the exemplary actions of these fine sailors, who reacted with such professionalism and caring during a time of need,” said VicPD’s Acting Chief Steve Ing. “In our role as police officers, we can’t do it alone, so we depend on the good people in the community to do the right thing. These two members of the Royal Canadian Navy deserve our deepest thanks for helping us to keep the people in our community safe. Our Department motto is “Honour Through Service” – it is inspiring to all of us when others demonstrate that they too take those words to heart.”