Police officer filmed jumping into freezing canal to save struggling woman

'He may well have saved a life'

A woman has been rescued from a canal by a police office after falling over 15 feet into the water from a bridge above.

Officers from West Midlands Police force responded to reports of the woman's fall at around 7.30am on Friday morning.

They arrived at the Bentley Bridge leisure complex in Wolverhampton and found the 22-year-old in the canal.

Police officers urged the woman to swim towards a tow path but she was struggling to stay above the water's surface.

Footage shows an officer taking off his jacket and jumping into the water to assist her.

He pulled the woman to the tow path and the officers took her to be medically assessed.

“The canal is pretty deep and wide at the point she’d entered the water…certainly too deep to stand,” the police officer said in a statement.

“The woman wasn’t responding to our commands to swim to the side and, with her clothes heavy with water, I could see she was being dragged under.

“I knew someone had to act soon so I jumped in to get her. Cold would be an understatement – it was absolutely freezing – but thankfully I was only in there for a matter of seconds.

“I wouldn’t have fancied spending any longer in there. It was our first call for service of the day – an interesting way to start my shift – and I was back on patrol by about 11am having had a shower.”

The 39-year-old does not wish to be named but won praise from his colleagues for jumping into the canal.

“This is a fantastic piece of work from the ” said Chief Inspector Dave Keen. “He may well have saved a life.”