Two off-duty Essex Police officers who attempted to save an injured motorcyclist have been recognised with a Federation Bravery Award

14 May 2024

Two police officers who were off-duty when they attempted to save a badly injured motorcyclist - whilst having to dodge traffic on a busy A road - have won an Essex Police Federation Bravery Award.

It was back in August 2022 when Insp Kayleigh Heffron was driving to HQ on the A130 when she came across a road traffic incident. A motorcyclist had hit the back of a lorry and was hanging from underneath the lorry by his helmet.

 
Insp Heffron was on her own in her private car, with no emergency equipment or PPE. She got out of her vehicle and ran towards the horrific scene. Members of the public had started to gather around, having witnessed the collision, and they were in shock and distress.  

Insp Heffron offered reassurance to the public at the same time as trying to release the motorcyclist from underneath the lorry, so that she could assess his injuries and provide first aid.  A member of the public helped her lower the injured man to the ground, where she was able to start an assessment.

Insp Heffron said: “You had three lanes and we were in the outside lane, which is the fastest lane, and we still had traffic moving around, which absolutely amazed me, bearing in mind that everyone passing would have been able to have seen what had happened.

 
“I was on my own. I was off duty, in half blues, as we call it, which is our half uniform. In order for me to do something I needed to, at first, protect myself, because if I can’t protect myself I can’t do anything else. So I positioned my vehicle in what we call a fend off position to try and provide me with a little bit of safety.”

She began CPR.

 
At this stage, Insp Dan Selby, who was also off-duty in his car, arrived at the scene and assisted Insp Heffron with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions.

 
The traffic was still free flowing on the busy A road, but Insp Heffron and Insp Selby continued to provide first aid, knowing the danger they were in should a vehicle skid on the debris and spilt fuel and crash into them.  

“I did breaths, Dan did chest,” said Insp Heffron. “He did that because he could tell that I was just exhausted. I was absolutely drained and exhausted. After about two minutes we swapped, so I did chest compressions and he did breath. We were probably on our own for a good 10 minutes prior to the ambulance service joining us, but I was probably on my own prior to that for about 20 minutes. Because of the traffic build up, there was just no emergency services that could filter through.”

Insp Selby said: “I finished my night turn duty and I was off a little bit late, but coming down the A12 towards the roundabout. I then got stuck in some traffic, but as I came to a standstill I could see a vehicle crash in front, and I’d seen a motorbike that was laying on the side of the road that had quite a lot of crash damage. I could see somebody doing something at the front, so I just pulled off into the hard verge and got out and went over. That’s when I met Kayleigh.

“My main role with Kayleigh was CPR really, until the ambulance arrived. Unfortunately he didn’t survive.

“You get on with ultimately looking after that person and trying to do the best that you can for them at the time. You know instantly, from my experience, you know that this is a chance of survival here. It’s not just a, ‘We need to get involved to make sure nobody gets hurt’. If we seriously don’t do anything in the next couple of minutes, this person’s got absolutely no chance. I think that’s the sort of key thing really. It’s the thing that in policing you recognise that quite quickly. But essentially, you just sort of put everything to one side and focus on that moment really.”

On being nominated for the Award, Insp Heffron said: “You don’t do what you do to get an Award or get any recognition or to be highlighted, you do it because that’s what you joined up to do. I know that sounds really cliché and cheesy. When I joined this job it was to help people. To be nominated for the Award, it is lovely. It’s lovely to be acknowledged for the activities carried out.”

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said: “We are very proud of the efforts of these colleagues. This incident is a further reminder of how Essex Police officers of all ranks are never off duty.

 
“This was an extremely challenging incident, both logistically and emotionally. Kayleigh and Dan, though off-duty, tried everything they could here – while at risk from fast flowing traffic and gave the man the best chance of survival, although he sadly died.

 
“Our thoughts and condolences remain with his family and friends.”    

The officers will attend the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards on Thursday 16 May.

At the event a winner will be announced who will travel to London for the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.

 
The lead sponsor for the Awards is The National Police Healthcare Scheme.

Also sponsoring the Awards are Serve and Protect Credit Union, Rates Group, No 1 Copperpot Credit Union, Metfriendly, Niche, Uniform Mortgages, THB Legal, George Burrows, Arc Legal and Police Mutual.

The hashtag for the event is #EssexFedBravery.