7:00am Friday 18th December 2009
By Lewis Cowen
A woman motorist from Market Lavington would certainly have died if it had not been for the swift actions of a local policeman and a water engineer.
PC Tom Kinderman and Paul Wiltshire of Wessex Water received commendations from Wiltshire Chief Constable Brian Moore at a ceremony in Devizes Corn Exchange on Monday.
The citations, read out by Chief Inspector Paul Mills, referred to the actions of the two men when mother-of-two Bozena Krupka, 44, became trapped in her car upside-down in a stream on the A360 near Littleton Panell on March 7 this year.
Mr Wiltshire, who was passing, clambered down to the wreckage. At first he thought the driver was dead but he saw her hand move. He held Mrs Krupka’s head above the rising water.
Just then PC Kinderman arrived on the scene. He dived into the icy water and managed to free Mrs Krupka’s legs from the car pedals. She escaped with whiplash and hypothermia.
Chief Inspector Mills said: “The two men’s actions undoubtedly helped save the life of the female in the car.”
Mr Wiltshire, who lives in Yate, Bristol, and attended with his two children, said: “I had almost forgotten about it. It seems such a long time ago. Then this invitation turned up in the post. It is very pleasing to be recognised. At the time I didn’t think about it. I just did what I thought needed doing.”
PC Kinderman said: “Our intention was just to keep her head above water until the fire brigade arrived, but she was slipping in and out of consciousness and we were afraid hypothermia would get her.
“We took the opportunity of her losing consciousness to manoeuvre her under the water to where there was more space to drag her towards the window. Mr Wiltshire was holding onto my legs all the time, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Mrs Krupka, from Market Lavington, an employee of the Grist Group in Devizes, was not present at the ceremony.
But interviewed by the Gazette in March she said: “I know I would not be here if it was not for them. I owe them my life.”
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