'We feared the worst' - Mum's thanks after schoolboy fractured skull and eye socket in freak bicycle accident

Parents Kealie Bulmer and Kevin Austin feared the worst when they received the call to say their 11-year-old son Kyle had come off his bike – ploughing through a hedge before plummeting 8ft into a large pond at Sunderland’s Barnes Park.

Student PC Ami Matthews and Inspector Simon Wotton, who had never met but both happened to be off-duty in the park, witnessed the accident and quickly ran to his aid.

Ami – who was only inducted into the Force in March – took control and together with Simon helped to carry Kyle out of the water and keep him calm.

The schoolboy suffered a fractured skull and eye socket as well as a broken collarbone and wrist – but thankfully he is now on the mend.

Mum Kealie 40, who visited Millbank Police Station last week, said: “Kyle was in a right state – his eye was totally closed and swollen, but it would have been so much worse had Ami and Simon not have been there.

“When we got a call saying Kyle had come off his bike and the ambulance was on its way, my heart just sank – we feared the worst, as any parent would.

“Thankfully Kyle is now slowly improving, but as a whole family – myself, Kevin and his older sister Abbey – we all wanted to thank Ami and Simon for what they did for our son.

“They were so caring and compassionate, and we thought it was only right to say thank you to them personally.”

Ami, who was just six weeks into her qualification at the time of the incident, said: “The most important thing is that Kyle is OK.

“I’d actually only just completed a first aid module a couple of weeks earlier, so that definitely helped.

“I wanted to join the police because my husband always says I can never turn a blind eye to anything, I always want to do the right thing and help people – but I didn’t expect this to happen so early into my policing journey!”

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