Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: June 20, 2002
• Invested on: June 13, 2003

On April 11, 2001, Cst. Belinda Rose risked her life to save a suicidal man intent on jumping from the edge of a gorge at Victoria Park, in Elora, Ontario. Responding to a witness' call, Cst. Rose located the victim standing on the stairs of a lookout point, a rope tied around his neck. As she approached him, the distraught man proceeded to jump head first over the stone wall. Cst. Rose reached out and managed to grab him by the ankles, and to hold onto him while calling for backup, using her chin to key her communication system. With all her strength, she tried to pull the heavy, uncooperative man back over the stone wall but she lost her footing on a patch of ice. Although she continued clutching the man's ankles, he succeeded in dragging her with him and both balanced precariously on the wall, some 20 metres above the turbulent waters, until help finally arrived several
minutes later.