Kāpiti police officers receive Royal Humane Society bronze medals

For constables Vienna Williams, Julian Morehu and Eddie Dunn, saving lives is just another part of being a police officer.

It was no different on March 27, 2022, when the three officers saved a local from a burning vehicle in Paraparaumu.

Last week they were rewarded for their bravery with Royal Humane Society bronze medals, which were presented to them by Kāpiti Mayor Janet Holborow at a Kāpiti Coast District Council meeting.

The incident happened when a car went down a sloping driveway and came to rest on an angle up a bank.

The car’s engine was still revving and starting to smoke, with the driver still inside.

Williams, who has been with the police for two and a half years, and Dunn, who has served for six years, were first on the scene and discovered the car, surrounding vegetation and a neighbouring fence were all on fire.

Williams and Dunn were unable to reach the driver’s door due to the flames and, when they checked the other doors, they were all locked.

Dunn smashed the front passenger door window while Williams smashed the rear passenger door window, and then they unlocked the doors and entered the vehicle – but due to dense smoke, they could only search the car by feel so they exited.

That was when Morehu, a police officer for seven years, arrived on the scene and tried to fight the fire with a garden hose, while Dunn went to get a fire extinguisher, but was unsuccessful.

Morehu entered the vehicle and saw the glow of fire beneath the dashboard and knew the fire was about to enter the interior.

He managed to undo the driver’s seatbelt but the victim was stuck.

Morehu was able to heave the victim out from under the dashboard, over the centre console from the passenger side, and was assisted by Williams in removing the driver from the car.

The three officers then managed to drag the unresponsive driver to safety and Dunn continued trying to extinguish the fire with the garden hose until Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Wellington Free Ambulance arrived.

The driver was taken to hospital and has now recovered.

When presenting the officers with their medals, Holborow described their actions as brave and timely.

“I would like to personally acknowledge and thank you for your courage.”

Morehu said their actions that day were based on their instincts, and Dunn added, “We do things like this all the time”.

Dunn said it was quite a surreal experience, but in that moment “you just do what you need to do”.

The person who initially rang 111 recorded the incident, and the three officers agreed that watching it back highlighted just how surreal it was.

“I remember watching it and thinking ‘Did we do that’,” Williams said.

Williams said despite performing rescues like this quite often, it was still really exciting to have received the medals and recognition.

“We never expect to actually receive anything from just doing our jobs, so being acknowledged for this is really cool.”