WEBVTT - The True Cost of Working on the Frontline 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.400 We'd like to acknowledge that traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.840 on which this podcast was produced the Gadigle people of 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.440 the Orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.880 This episode contains discussions of mental ill health and suicide. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.040 If this raises any issues for you, support is available 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.680 through the links and phone numbers in the show notes. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.439 It's nineteen ninety six and we're in Coff's Harbor with 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:31.000 Detective Alan Sparks. He's on duty with his colleague Gavin 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.760 when they get a call. A young boy has been 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.440 washed into a storm water drain after days of torrential downpour. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.159 There's more rain on the way. They have to act quickly. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.000 Alan jumps in and follows the child's screams through the 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:53.640 maze of the drain system. After almost drowning himself, news 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.520 comes through that the boy has been heard some six 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:01.440 hundred meters away. A grueling hour later, Alan finds the boy, 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.000 pulls him into his arms and tries to calm him down. 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.400 When they come out of the drain, news cameras are 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.000 there to capture the moment. Shortly after the dramatic rescue, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.800 he's in the fetal position in the shower. Alan is 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:25.920 a hero, but he doesn't feel like one. I'm Att 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.800 Middleton and this is head Game today, the real cost 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.399 of working on the front line, and how hope saved 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:43.319 Alan Sparks. Alan Sparks, Welcome to Headgame. Now you're a 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.400 former detective and you're in a police force for the 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.120 majority of your career. Why did you want to join 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:50.760 the police force? 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.640 I originally wanted to be a geologist. My dad took 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.400 me up to a little place called Glengarry near Lightning 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.280 Ridge many years ago before I finished school, and we 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.160 were open mining and I really loved gems and Ople's 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:08.120 and Lord. But then I couldn't affordy eighty university, so 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.480 it was what else can I do? And a friend 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.880 of my dad's was a policeman and he spoke to 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.080 me about joining the police force. And at that stage 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.760 I was a sharer. I was still only very young 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:21.600 and only finished high school and I was jack ewing 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.520 and working in the land and became a sharer, and 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.519 I was tol you know, do I join the cops? 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.359 Do I stay sharing? Because I was playing rugby and 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.359 loving my rugby and loving working as a sharer, and 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:32.959 they said, well, why don't you go and try it out. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.000 You don't like it, come back playing foot and keep sharing. 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.960 So I said, okay. So I joined up two weeks 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.600 after I turned nineteen and so young. Yeah, yeah, And 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.840 I come from a little village out in the central 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.200 west of New South Wales Aunt so I sent two 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.320 hundred and fifty people in the village so to come 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.200 into Sydney and to go to training at Redfern and 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.880 then my first station was Darlinghurst in King's Cross. So 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.040 that was as I haven't for me as a young kid, 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.680 and I absolutely loved it. It was just full of 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.200 excitement and new experiences. Every day it was new experiences 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.960 and certainly there were things I was never exposed to 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.720 previously that obviously goes with first response work. And I 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:20.760 went in and I was a young cop on the 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.639 beat at King's Cross at nineteen back in the days 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.760 when there's only two of us on the beat, so 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.440 night shifts afternoon shifts were challenging at times physically. I 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.800 really liked the idea of becoming detective and I started 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.240 my playing clothes career at Darlinghurst and there were some 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.040 absolutely brilliant detectives who worked in that area, who were 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:47.040 great mentors, great educators, great advisors and good friends. And 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:51.080 I loved working there. And then some years later another 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.680 detective came there who was quite notorist in Australia, and 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:56.880 one night here and I didn't see eye to I, 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.960 so he shafted me and I did a side went 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.320 to the Detective's course where I became a lecturer in 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.560 the Detective's course where I met my now wife. But 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.840 also there was another member of that class who featured 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.000 significantly in my life later on, Pete Addison. Pete was 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:19.400 murdered at Crescent Head some years later, and Pete was 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.159 an absolutely wonderful man. And so after the Detection's Course, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:25.640 I barred out for a while and then went back 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:30.200 to the cops and then went to South Region Breaking Squad, 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.960 which was an area where we specialized in targeting organized 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.839 crime pretty much sort of the heavies of Sydney crime, 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.520 heavies of Australian crime, the gangsters, and that was an 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.640 amazing squad to work in. I really loved that, and 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:47.800 then I wanted to get into some real estate and 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.520 deb and I'd start a relationship by this stage and Sydney. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.080 I just couldn't afford it, so there's a vacacy came 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.880 up with Coffs Harbor. So I spoke to Dev and said, look, 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.479 I'd like to go up there, maybe get start in 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.840 real estate, maybe come back. So Deb she was then 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.320 working at the surveillance unit, which is like an undercover unit, 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.120 and she also transferred up about it a year after 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:13.600 I started there, and yes, stayed there until I unfortunately 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.000 become a very unwell and lost my career and the 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.080 rest is history. As they say, you get. 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:23.000 A call back in nineteen ninety six, take me back 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.360 to that call where you've got a call out for 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.760 a young boy that got washed into a storm water drain. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:34.719 I remember that day so clearly. And I was working 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.560 with a guy called Gavin Dengate and Gave was my 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:42.320 workmatee at COFs Harbor, and we were investigating the theft 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.440 of some jury from a lady who was in a 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.239 nursing home. That's all she had left from her marriage. 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.520 My husband passed and her jurry had been stolen. So 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.720 we had executed a search warrant and we recovered the 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.440 jury and we arrested the person who stole it. And 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.200 I remember that morning we went the nursing home and 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.640 afterward photographed and log the jewelry. We gave it back 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.359 to this old lady and she was just in tears. 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.360 She never expected to see it again. And that is 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.880 a cop you know sometimes where you go, I've actually 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.560 done some really good today, and Gavin, I it wasn't 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.960 a major crime, but it meant the world of this woman, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.159 and what we were able to achieve meant the world 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.479 for it. And I'm quite sure that she would have 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:25.240 been at peace for the rest of her life because 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:26.039 she got a jury. 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.000 It's amazing that you remember that crime like that, but 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.480 the effect that it has on someone and the result 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:32.400 that you give them. 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:32.839 That's right. 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:33.120 Wow. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.760 Yeah, So and that's part of our job is to 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.839 make a difference in people's lives. So then we went 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:42.880 back to the station. We're just having a cup of tea, 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.240 and I remember we were standing in the mill room 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.839 near the sink, and when the police issue are like 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.920 an urgent job, you get two distinct beeps over the radio, 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.200 and then it said any car in the vicinity of 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.080 whatever street it was. We swept into a storm water 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.799 pipe and normally that's a job that uniform would attend, 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.880 not detectives. It's not a storm or a drain, which 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.240 is a large thing you can actually walk into. This 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.800 is a narrow pipe. So I remember Gave and I 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.080 we just looked at each other and just threw our 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.800 cups in the sink, raced downstairs, jumped in the car, 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.680 took off up to this street and we got there 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.720 and we'd had five days of absolutely torrential rainfall at 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:30.360 Cops Harbor, so everything was flooded. And we got to 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.600 the scene. There were two little boys. They were saturated, 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.640 and there was a workman there, an adult male, and 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.840 we said to the kids, what's happened. They said, oh, gians, 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.480 giants disappeared. I said, where's he disappeared? Mate, and they 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.680 pointed to this whirlpool and I've gone, oh shit. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:47.040 Were they playing in the whirlpool? 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.560 Yeah, they've been playing on their boogie boards in the 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.680 flooded creek. And the whole thing was flooded and this 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:58.400 whirlpool was massive, was just swirling around and I thought, great, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.960 what are we going to do? And the workman said, look, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.240 you can actually get access to look down the drain 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.560 across the road. So we ran across the road and. 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:09.559 It's just two of you. 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.080 Yeah, So we lifted up the concrete covers. We took 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.960 our guns and handcuffs off. Three those in the car 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.960 jumped into the into the drain, and we looked down. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.040 We could see what we thought was a little boy's 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.640 body down the pipe. And I think the workman he 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.040 gave us a rope, gave wanted to go down, and 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.640 I said to gave look, I'll go down. I'll grab him. 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.520 I'll give you three tugets and I've got him. Pulled 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.400 me back. So I started to go down and I 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.640 realized this rope is going to snap and then I'm 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.480 down there. So I tugged on the rope gave pulled 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.240 me back up to the surface. And I'd only gone 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.800 down a few meters and by that stage the State 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.800 Emergency Service were there, other cops are there, and I 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:54.800 say this a lot of I thank god the professionals here, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:56.679 they'll take over. And they just gave me a bigger 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:57.320 rope and put me back. 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.200 So then I went anyway, continue, Yeah. 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.040 And then I still remember like I'm not a small man. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.280 I think at that stage I was probably punching one 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:12.320 hundred plus kilos. I'm six' two and this water literally 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.560 just carried me down like a. LEAF i. WAS i 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.200 was weightless the power of this. 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.200 Water SO i fat done that to. You were you, thinking, wow, 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:21.640 Yeah i've sped done to this little. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.360 Boy. Yeah and our reasoning was if we get him, 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.000 out if he's, dead well we have a chance of reviving. 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.559 Him if he's, alive we've got to get him out 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.280 before it rains again and he gets washed. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:32.520 Away and what was going through your. 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.000 Mind i'm a very positive. PERSON i, Thought, no he's. 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:36.920 Alive we'll get him out and we'll get, him get, 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.640 him get him back. Home it'll be. Right so the 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.640 focus was get to. Him AND i had a torch with, 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.800 me like a, MAGLIGHT i, think and there's been. ESTIMATE 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.000 i went down eighty meters down the, pipe and by 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.240 the time we got to where we thought it was, 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.920 him the light showed up was just like it was 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:57.520 a branch that was giving these weird. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.520 Shadows so what you thought was the boy was then. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:06.120 Eight, yeah this is not. Good So i've tugged three 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.280 times on the. Rope thank, God gavin was in the. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.560 Drain he could see what was going. On so as 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.080 soon AS i tugged them the, rope they stopped the free. 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:18.320 Flow So i've stopped and my, Bulk i've actually damned myself. 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.360 In so SUDDENLY i Am i'm engulfed in, water and 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.160 this water is so. Powerful and my first thought, WAS 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.800 i hope the guy that tied a bowline tied a 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.120 good bowline around my, waist because ALL i had was 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.000 just a rope on my. Arms so then they started 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.560 to pull me back And i'm not in a good position. 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.240 HERE i, Thought i'm going to die, Here i'm going to. 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:44.559 Drown and so you've got this this this backwash just engulfing. 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.800 You, Yeah i'm pretty much submerged under the, water being 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.760 pulled backwards by all the all the ses guys that 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:52.240 cops up on the surface point. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.320 No proper, equipment just a rope around your. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.640 Boy, yeah SO i remember sort of Sometimes i'd create 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.240 a bit of an, arch make an air, pocket grab 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:00.839 a quick, breath get under the, water and go back 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.880 under the water. Again and then we got. Back i've 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:09.400 got back to the, surface, Thankfully and then we were 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.400 just standing, around going we have to find ways into this. 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:15.679 Drain we've got to try and reap frog down the 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.280 drain to try and find, him and then a call 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.480 came over the radio to say they can hear a 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.520 child screaming down The Pacific. Highway, Mentally i'll, gone that's 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.559 a long way. Away that's a seriously long way. Away 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.480 and it turns out from where we were it was 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.120 about as the craveflies five hundred. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.160 Meters it's like a maze down. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.720 There, Right, yeah there's this. PIPE i, MEAN i know 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.040 it went to a certain. Direction but when we got 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.320 down to the, highway The Pacific highways all blocked. Off 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.960 there's people, everywhere and we jumped out of the car 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.840 and got to hear the screams of a. 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.240 Child what's going through your head when you're hearing the? 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.120 Screams, confusion absolute. Confusion LIKE i thought the kid was. 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.760 DEAD i thought we were looking for a body. Recovery, 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.080 yeah there's no way this can be. ALIVE i thought 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.720 he's trapped against a great. Somewhere he is. Dead but 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.520 then to hear the, Screams, no he's actually. Live so 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.520 my brain's going dead alive and he's. Alive But michael 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.040 mar the. Paramedic michael was laying on his tummy with 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.360 his head down into this manhole and we ran over 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:20.680 and the water was bubbling up on the. Manhole but 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.160 the screams are coming up through the, water And i'm 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.280 even more confused by this. Stage SO i. CALLED i, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.880 SAID i want a scuba. TANK i want to regulator 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.679 BECAUSE i had done some scuba. DIVING i, said there 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.040 are the two THINGS i. Want and somebody produced a 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.480 ladder and plunked it down the manhole and there's ACTUAL 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.920 tv footage Of gavin trying to squeeze his way down 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:42.920 the camera. 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:47.360 Cruiser yeahound up the emergency. Services you've got everyone that's 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.240 now over watching. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.640 This and at some STAGE i don't know, when BUT 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.400 i took my suit pants off And i'm there And box, assured, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:02.800 yeah my. Ppees, anyway So gav's we're all. There but 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.920 there's these screams and these these are terrifying. SCREAMS a 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:11.600 child screaming for their. Life it was. Terrifying so they 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.520 put another rope around me and, no don't want. That 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.480 gav went down straight down the. Ladder he disappeared under the. 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.679 WATER i followed him down and the water is not, 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.520 clear so obviously it's. Floodwater it's, filthy it's, Muddy gav. 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.280 DISAPPEARED i went down And i'm under the water trying 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.480 to film my way, around and we both came up 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.120 in the junction of six of these pipes which were 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:34.520 pouring in on top of wet had torch. 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:35.720 On is it pitch black down? 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.000 There, no it's pitch. Black we haven't got a, Torch 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:43.320 we've got. Nothing and we we weren't. Communicating we just 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.200 just knew what we thought we had to, do and 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.319 that was to search to try and find which pipe is? 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.800 Up followed the, Voice, yeah, Yeah. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.959 And we searched a couple of pipes each and then 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.920 WHEN i went, UP i thought it's this. One i've 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.640 got to take a. PUNT i think it's this, one 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.559 because we were conscious if it rains, again we're all. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.199 Dead because downpour we're. Dead we're not going to get 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.760 out and you're. Done SO i said To, gab, LOOK 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.360 i think it's this. One can you try and find 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:13.880 it a way into this? Pipe SO i regret that 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:20.880 decision in, hindsight but why do you. Go gav should 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.760 have been there with me to rejoice in the success 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:28.320 we eventually. Had gav deserved to be there for that 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.280 moment in. Life And i've always regretted THAT i Asked 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.040 gav to leave the drain. System and why did you 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:35.320 make that? 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.680 Decision what was going for your? Head was it his 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:38.520 safety or? 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.960 No to try and get to this kid as quickly 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.600 as we. Could IF i couldn't get to, him maybe 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.840 up some other. Way unbeknownst to, us the council was 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:48.880 bringing down a back. Hoe they were going to dig 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.440 up the highway to try and find this. Kid that's 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.160 how desperate it. Was and So gave went, up and 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.440 Then Michael, marlin, paramedic came down and he gave me 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.720 a turt AND i think he INSISTED i put a 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.560 rope around my. Tummy but this Time i'm on my 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.880 fingernails and, toenails crawling up this pipe to try and 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.160 get to WHERE i think the kid. Is and again 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.360 these screams are just doing my head And i'm crawling, 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.120 up literally crawling in amongst the concrete and the crap 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:26.640 that's in a concrete, pipe and it's it's shoulder with the. 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.000 PART i was watching your show the other, night but 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.080 they did the exercise being in the water. Pipe, Wow, 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.760 OKAY i know that's like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, anyway So 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.840 i'm crawling up the. Pipe Michael maer is behind, me 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.720 screaming at. Me if you got him, Out i've got. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:43.320 Him have you got? Him how long have you been down? 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.240 There, ah you're, cold your, Well. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.320 I'm, freezing, Miserable we're, freezing and All i'm gonna hear 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.080 is this kid, Screaming michael. Screaming So i'm screaming At, michael, 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.760 like shut their. Up i'm trying to call the. Kid it's, okay, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.680 Mate i'm, Coming i'm, Coming i'm. Coming could he hear your? 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:00.280 Voice was he? 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.640 Responding, no he was just he'd lost. It he was, 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.920 hysterical he, was no, doubt. Hypothermic he'd been in there 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.320 for forty five, minutes hanging on for dear, life because 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.160 he's just hanging on to a log that's stammed across the. 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.640 Pipe if that log wasn't, there he was dead because 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.360 he would have got washed down to a great there 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.240 was no way he would have. Survived so he's been 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.640 hanging on there in the pitch dark with his water 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.360 just powering onto his, body screaming and screaming for his, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.560 life and, suddenly no doubt he can see. Torchlight BUT 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:34.840 i don't know whether he understands what it. Is AND 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.920 i really. WASN'T i wasn't thinking about does he? Know 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:39.680 does he? Know i'm just trying to get to. Him 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.320 i'm absolutely, desperate AND i started to, pray, like, Please, 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.480 god let me get to, Him please don't let him 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.760 get washed. Away AND i kept crawling and, crawling, crawling 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:53.040 AND i can picture it to this absolute moment in. 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.760 Time my torchlight finally picked up his. Face that's ALL 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.560 i can see was just his face and the illumination 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.960 of the tour hitting his. Face it was LIKE i 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.560 saw a ghost and it is so vivid in my. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.280 Memory AND i coaxed him to come towards me BECAUSE i, 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:10.639 Thought i'm not going to get to. 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:12.720 Him how far were you away from him when you? 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.480 Swim oh and probably ten meters AND i was about 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.359 thirty meters up the, yeah at the. 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:19.680 Water. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.639 Yeah So i'd crawl thirty meters on my guts to 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.240 get to. Him and then he. Did he got washed 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.160 down to me And i've got hold of, him AND 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.160 i was, like Oh, God i've got. Him and out 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.240 of the, BLUE i just, said say thank You. God 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.600 And i'm not a religious, person And i'm a very spiritual, 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.119 person BUT i, said you say thank You, god and 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:41.880 this little boy he just, said, oh thank You. God 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.880 he started to bail his eyes, out AND i. DID 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:44.880 i started to bore my eyes. 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:46.639 Out so you have this moment where you've got him 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.280 in your, arms he's gripping youws he is he calming 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:50.040 down or is he just? 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:56.160 Still he had basically just collapsed with, exhaustion with, emotion 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.719 with a sense of HIS i feel so now this 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.679 man's got. ME i feel. Safe and THEN i somehow 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.560 pushed him under me and then he got washed down 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.239 To Michael, marr the. Paramedic michael's got, him assessed. Him 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:14.200 Then michael swam him under the, water got to where 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.399 the manhole. Was michael climbed up the ladder then and 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.520 THE tv foot cameras rolling and they reached down and 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.400 they pulled this little kid out out of the drain 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.159 and he just comes up like a drowned. Rat and 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.600 they put him on the ambulance skur and he wrapped 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.800 him up an emergency. Blanket his mom's, There she's been 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.480 there through the whole. Thing she was hearing her child 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.439 screaming for their. Life they wrap him up in the. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.959 Blanket Her mum's just hugging him and hugging. Him AND 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.199 i get out of the. PIPE i go to the 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:48.240 car And i'm sitting in the passenger seat of this, 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.760 car AND i was. COLD i remember being really. 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.879 Cold how only have you been down there? For AND 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.040 i don't know how long had he been down there? 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.400 For at least forty five, minutes at least for five. 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:05.680 Minutes and halfway down the pipe he saw some light 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:07.200 and he reached up and he grabbed hold of a 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.040 grate in the side of the. Road because his vision, 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.120 impaired his glasses went flying as soon as he got 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.760 sucked off the. Boogeyboard, evidently he tells me that he 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:17.879 could see shapes and he just started to scream and 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.239 screen for, help and then the water just washed him 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.520 away another three hundred, meters so it's been washed six 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.600 hundred meters down the. Pipe. Wow and Then i'm in 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.800 the car and Just i'm, Like i'm in. SHOCK i 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.359 remember going back to the police. Station. Dad my, wife 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.679 she was a cop. There she's in her. Office she 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.960 isn't doing she's in a chop protection. Unit so she's 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:40.720 in the in her office and they had for some, 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.720 REASON i had the radio turned, down so she didn't 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.640 know anything was going. On and she saw the car 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.480 pull up and she looked. Out she Saw gavin get 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:52.800 out in his pants and shirt, saturated holding his gun on. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.800 Handcuffs she's, going, oh it's. Strange then she saw me 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.080 get out in my box of shorts holding my. Handcuffs 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:04.680 what the hell is going had a lot of blood 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:10.800 in my back and other. Stuff i've just, gone, yeah 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.000 from a look like cutting myself on the concrete pipe 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.280 because it was so narrow and trying to get it 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.640 squeezed myself. Around SO i went into the crime, scene 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:22.800 And i've just jumped straight in the shower just to 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.040 wash all. THIS i felt, filthy and deb found. ME 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:28.399 i just just curled up on the ball in the 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.320 bottom of the, shower, assessed just sobbing my. 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.280 Heart straight after the. Incident yeah it's affected you straight. 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:40.480 Away, Yeah i've had a serious a serious how do you? 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:44.600 Say looking at it, SCIENTIFICALLY i THINK i went from 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:49.560 being a sympathetic nervous state into a massive power. Sympathetic i'm, 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:53.520 Safe i'm, Warm i'm, okay and like my body has 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:54.240 just shut. 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.760 Down what you're thinking when you're in that state. 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.280