To serve and protect is the ultimate responsibility of law enforcement everywhere. But one officer took the slogan literally when he spied a brown UPS delivery van erratically rolling down a city street in Bellingham, Washington, on Tuesday, June 30.
Suffering a stroke, the 61-year-old delivery driver was slumped over the wheel. With cars and pedestrians in the direct path of the runaway van, Whatcom County Sheriff deputy Colin Bertrand had just seconds to react.
Accelerating past the rolling van to position his patrol car as a roadblock, Bertrand’s quick tactic caused an intentional crash that brought the six-ton vehicle to a stop. After notifying 911, Bertrand then jumped into the van’s cab to begin administering life-saving first aid.
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| PHOTO CREDIT: Bellingham Police Department |
With recent high profile police incidents hotly debated across the country sending questionable actions of a few officers into social media frenzy, good deeds by law enforcement often go unnoticed.
In June 2014, the ACLU issued a report accusing law enforcement of forcing their way into people’s homes in the middle of the night, deploying explosive devices to temporarily blind and deafen residents, simply to serve a search warrant on the suspicion that someone may be in possession of a small amount of drugs.
It's statements like this that do little to boost public confidence in the men and women who put their very lives in jeopardy to preserve the safety of complete strangers.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 117 officers sacrificed their own lives in the line of duty in 2014 to protect others. Those officers were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who took an oath to protect, defend, and secure the safety of innocent citizens at their own risk. With a median pay of just $27.40 per hour, long shifts in one of the most physically demanding, stressful and dangerous occupations with the highest rates of injuries, most officers choose the profession for noble and selfless reasons. Yet with video cameras and social media at the fingertips of every bystander, the rogue actions of a handful of officers caught on camera go viral.
The remaining 800,000 officers across the country who position themselves as physical barriers between the dangerous and innocent during long shifts now find their jobs even more hazardous as the mere sight of their uniform on city streets cast a shadow of suspicion and distrust. A recent Gallup Poll cited that police confident in the United States is sitting at 52%, the lowest it’s been in 22 years. With recent high-profile incidents involving black men and white police officers continuing to be hotly debated on national news, these few incidents divert the public’s attention from the true nature of the majority of officers who pledge to serve and protect the good from the bad and the ugly at every shift.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Deputy Colin Bertrand stands as a consummate example of officers who take that oath to heart, demonstrating split-second decision making that put his own life in jeopardy in an effort to prevent a public disaster and spare innocent bystanders a tragic fate.
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| Deputy Bertrand with UPS Driver PHOTO CREDIT: Whatcom County Sheriff Office |
Despite his quick actions, Deputy Bertrand is modest about his heroism. “I want to express my humble appreciation to all who support good deeds. I did nothing that any of you wouldn't do yourselves,” states Deputy Bertrand.
When discussing the heroic maneuver that prevented a public disaster, Officer Bertrand speaks for those who chose law enforcement as a career for noble reasons. “I remember someone on my oral board 20 plus years ago asked me, ‘Why Mr. Bertrand do you want to be a deputy.’ My answer, "I want to help people."
Bertrand’s patrol car sustained $4,000 in damage. The delivery driver was hospitalized and has now recovered.
And Deputy Colin Bertrand can now add humble hero to his list of achievements.
