Sunderland dad nominated for award for saving life of man on train tracks in the line of duty

A Sunderland dad has been nominated for an award for an act of bravery during a shift as a city police officer.
PC Brian Dawson has been nominated for an award after he pulled man out of the path of an oncoming train.PC Brian Dawson has been nominated for an award after he pulled man out of the path of an oncoming train.
PC Brian Dawson has been nominated for an award after he pulled man out of the path of an oncoming train.

Pc Brian Dawson has been nominated for a Police Bravery Award after risking his life to save a man from an oncoming train on the outskirts of Durham.

The officer, who lives in Sunderland and has served with Durham Constabulary for 17 years, was returning to his station from a job when he heard about the search for a man threatening to take his life.

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Pc Dawson followed the directions of a woman who had seen the man sitting on the railway drinking a can of lager, while the force’s communications department frantically to stop all trains on the line.

The officer tried to speak to him over the fence, but when he saw a train coming made a split-second decision to act.

Pc Dawson, who is based at Sherburn Road Police Station in Durham, climbed the fence and dragged the man across the line from the oncoming train, which was almost upon them.

His heroics during the incident, which happened on a Sunday teatime around a year ago, led to the nomination for an awards, which will be held in London next month.

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They are hosted by the Police Federation of England and Wales and sponsored by Police Mutual.

Dad-of-two Pc Dawson said: “It’s nice to be nominated for saving the bloke’s life, but it was also down to help from the member of the public and the comms team. We did it between us. The lady gave a lot of details and if it wasn’t for her giving those, it would have been hard to find him.”