Two officers with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) received the department’s highest award for bravery at a ceremony on March 14.
Detective Const. Blake Chersinoff and Const. Scott MacDonald received the Chief Constable’s Award of Valor.
It was for rescuing a kidnapped child from a man armed with two knives, who had barricaded himself into an apartment. Both constables were injured; Const. Chersinoff received serious injuries.
She said the two of them were working the morning shift in East Vancouver on that day when an “in progress” call of the highest magnitude came in. She said with 14 years of experience, Const. Chersinoff had attended hundreds of high-priority calls.
“As the details of this particular incident were broadcast into his earpiece, that experience told him that this was one of those extremely serious calls,” said Const. Visintin. “A 2-year-old boy had just been abducted from his grandparents, and he was now being forcibly confined in a neighbour’s apartment.”
She said the two officers headed to the scene and were met by two other officers at the front of the apartment building. According to a news release issued at the time, they arrived at about 10 a.m. at the location near Keefer Street and Gore Avenue.
“They entered the building and converged on the locked door of the suspect’s suite, where they could hear the man screaming inside, as well as the frightened cries of the little boy,” said Const. Visintin.
“Hearing the boy was at imminent risk of harm, the officers knew they had to break down that door to rescue the child.”
She said the officers kicked the door until finally they broke through, and Const. Chersinoff was first into the apartment.
“He was immediately confronted by the suspect, who was holding a knife in each hand,” she said, adding he managed to warn the other officers as they followed him in.
“But there wasn’t enough time or distance, and the suspect lunged at Constable Chersinoff, stabbing him in the shoulder and chest,” she said. “Despite his very serious injuries, Constable Chersinoff persevered through the pain and rescued the child.”
Then, she said, with help from the other officers, Const. MacDonald took down the injured man, getting an injury to his hand in the process.
“Despite the injury, he worked through the pain to disarm and arrest the suspect,” she said.
However, she said, the man was later found not criminally responsible because of a mental illness.
“For extreme heroism in the protection of a child from an armed suspect who was intent on causing them serious harm or death, Constable Blake Chersinoff and Scott MacDonald are awarded the Vancouver Police Department’s highest award for bravery, the Award of Valor,” said Const. Vinistin.
“The Chief Constable’s Award of Valor is awarded to officers who demonstrate the most conspicuous act of bravery in extremely hazardous circumstances, to those who demonstrate daring, … self-sacrifice, or exceptional devotion to duty in the presence of great danger, and those who purposely take action for the benefit of others, while knowing that in doing so they place themselves at substantial risk of death or serious injury,” she said.
There were other awards handed out as well at the ceremony.
Chief Constable Adam Palmer said the awards recognize the contributions that police make every day.
“Risking their own personal safety, assisting total strangers in their time of need, often on the worst day of somebody’s life when there’s nobody else there to help, there’s the helping hand of a police officer who arrives to assist them,” said Mr. Palmer.
