Courageous Calgarians recognized at CPS 2016 Chief’s Awards Gala

Some of Calgary’s most courageous citizens have been recognized for their commitment to the community.

The Calgary Police Service 2016 Chief’s Awards Gala took place Thursday night.

25 people were presented awards and these are just some of their stories.

One of them was Erin O’Connor, who was recognized for saving the lives of two men.

Last August, Erin pulled up to a 7/11 with some friends, where they found a group of men fighting.

One of the men had a large slash to his abdomen which left his intestines visible.

Erin yelled at the group which stopped the ongoing attack on a second victim.

“I did grab him, he was on my lap, and I just kind of talked him through it, talked him down, he was very worried and I just talked to him like a regular person,” she said.

She and a friend were credited by doctors with saving the men’s lives, while security footage showed other people walking past the injured men for a full two minutes before they arrived.

“It’s definitely amped up my resolve to want to do better, to help people because I do that back home working at the detox as a councillor,” said Erin. “I would do anything to help anybody, I’d give them the shirt off my back, so I’m just going to keep doing it and helping people the best that I can.”

Another honouree was Paris Hazelwanter, who was recognized for putting herself in harm’s way to try and save a young woman’s life.

Last September, Paris was driving home from the Foothills Hospital where she was a nursing attendant.

While stopped at 16 Ave and 19 St NW, she watched a car run a red light, and then gunshots rang out.

Paris pulled over, got out of her car and, after ducking for cover as more shots rang out, she went to the car where she found a woman slumped in the driver seat.

“I just happened to be the first person that saw it and it was just purely instinct to jump out of my car and try and help,” she said.

She asked bystanders to help get the woman out of the car and began chest compressions, all while answering questions from 9-1-1 operators.

“As much as it was a great night to learn a lot about myself it was a hard night because she obviously didn’t make it so it’s not something you want to re-live all the time,” said Paris.

Matthew Eyre received an award for stopping a suicidal man from ending his life.

Matthew was walking down 36 St mid-February when he saw a man sitting on the railing on the overpass at 16 Ave.

His jacket was on the ground and something didn’t seem right.

“At the very least I wanted to talk to him, and when he kept on telling me that I needed to go away, that I shouldn’t see this and it wasn’t my fault, I knew that I needed to step in,” he said.

The man wouldn’t come down so when the opportunity presented itself Matthew grabbed him, pulled him back over the railing and held him until police arrived.

Matthew, who had recently lost a friend to suicide, later learned the man had previously expressed homicidal and suicidal thoughts and had a suicide note in his pocket.

Police Chief Roger Chaffin says all of these actions show the true nature of Calgarians.

“To see somebody in trouble and just act, selflessly act, to help other people out is an amazing thing,” he said. “You don’t ever want to promote something where you’re in danger, but quite simply in the moment people want to act.

“Calgary is a safe place to live but it doesn’t happen by itself, it’s safe because of the people that live here and the nature of wanting to help and wanting to look out for each other and that’s really a nice comment for such a big city,’ said Chaffin.