POLICE sergeant David Cooper has been nationally recognised for his courageous efforts whilst rescuing a young boy from turbulent surf in Lorne earlier this year.
The Lorne officer has been awarded the Australian National Search and Rescue Award, voted the 2013 winner by representatives from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian Defence Force, and police from each State and territory.
It was just after midday on 9 March when Sgt Cooper was notified of a 12-year-old boy in trouble in heavy surf off Lorne Beach.
He ran to the beach and spotted the boy approximately 100 to 150 metres off shore struggling to stay about the surface of the water.
Sgt Cooper commandeered a surfboard from a beach goer, stripped down to his boxer shorts and handed his police radio to an onlooker, informing her that she was now his ‘comms’ person.
Alongside Nick Costello, another swimmer, Sgt Cooper paddled out and reached the semi-conscious boy and together they were able to get him onto the surfboard.
They wrapped their arms around the boy to secure him to the board in the dips and swells of the waves, and made it back to shore where a visiting doctor took over care of the boy, administering medical treatment on the beach.
Sgt Cooper was getting his breath back when he was told that there was a second person also swept away in the rip, an older man who had gone to the assistance of the boy before police arrival.
Sgt Cooper ran south along the beach and climbed up onto a rocky ledge, enabling him to see a man floating face down in the water, about 150 metres off shore.
Once again he paddled out on the board, struggling against rough seas, to reach the man.
Two men on surfboards came to his assistance, followed very quickly by members of the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club in a rubber dingy and together they managed to get the man into the boat where Sgt Cooper commenced CPR.
On arriving at the beach, a holidaying paramedic also started working on the man, Sgt Cooper doing compressions while the paramedic did the breathing.
The two emergency workers conducted CPR for nearly an hour but unfortunately the 62-year-old Noble Park man was unable to be revived.
Each year, the National SAR Council awards the Australian National Search and Rescue Award in recognition of “an outstanding contribution to Australia’s search and rescue ability or to the saving of a human life”.
Sgt Cooper said he was honoured to receive the National Search and Rescue Council award for 2013.
“I see this award as recognition to all emergency workers who daily without fear or favour carry out some of the bravest and most heroic efforts,” Sgt Cooper said.
“I would like to thank everyone who assisted during this rescue and pass on my condolences to the boy and his family on the passing of his heroic dad.”
The 2013 award was presented in Tasmania last week to Sgt Cooper and Mr Costello who assisted in the rescue, at the annual National Search and Rescue Council meeting.
