I take the time to write to your publication to share with your readers the events that occurred on Friday afternoon.
Now, I am not one to write to the paper, but I found myself at odds with my own perceptions and how they were changed by three RCMP officers.
I was walking with my husband when we heard a commotion and came across a distressed kayaker who had overturned in Miles Canyon and was frantically clinging to the rocks for her own self-preservation.
We offered our assistance and were informed that emergency personnel had been contacted. We could hear the emergency sirens growing louder and louder until they came to a stop.
I was fully expecting to see firemen and search-and-rescue personnel come out onto the suspension bridge, and found myself rather shocked to see three RCMP officers sprint down the steps and across the bridge.
Not only was I rather surprised at their arrival, I was even more taken aback at how they took command of the situation and pulled the kayaker with a rope across the rocks into what one of them called an ‘eddy.’
They talked to the kayaker, calming her down, as well as tended to her travelling partner. One of the female officers, kneeling over the edge of the cliff, gave encouragement and even had the kayaker singing and talking about hockey to distract her from her cold surroundings.
When the rescue boat arrived on scene I was equally surprised to see that it was manned by more RCMP officers, who were able to pull the kayaker out of the water.
Prior to Friday afternoon, I pictured police being just that É police. Dealing with intoxicated persons on Second Avenue and with other people who choose to disregard our societal laws.
It never occurred to me that they are also the ones who respond, and apparently are the first to arrive, to help overturned kayakers, lost children, missing hikers, and so forth.
I truly believe that the kayaker owes her life to those RCMP officers. Especially the ones who, with all the gear on their belts, ran to the edge of a cliff for a complete stranger.
They should be commended!
Brenda Lee
Whitehorse