The bravest thing I've seen
Making a stand regardless
There have been several times in my life when i really did think my number was up, back in 1985 when I was covering an Australian bushfire and the crew and I barely escaped the flames as the fire raced ahead of our position. I remember us gunning the news car as flames burst into the trees around our station wagon, breathing hot cinders with the air a fire with smoke and heat, knowing I was lucky to get out alive. I few years earlier I'd dodged another bullet in Auckland when a gunman holding two shotguns fired directly towards the window I was watching from, peppering the reinforced glass with a blast of metal that sent me diving under the nearest desk. More heightened concern a decade or so later when an agitated man sat next to me pouring petrol over himself and then producing a cigarette lighter threatening to send us both into a fireball. There have been other risky occasions over the years often involving close calls in helicopters, when even the pilots were praying for divine intervention. One of my personal favourites was being left on a mountain top dressed in only a suit and tie as the afternoon sun lowered and the temperatures fell, no cellphone coverage in those days... eeeek.
But in recalling those events, there is nothing particularly courageous in any of my actions just luck and a certain calm determination not to be overwhelmed by fear. But it did get me thinking about courage and the bravest thing I've ever seen and I reckon that was in 1983 during an armed siege in downtown Auckland. The same gunman who had shot at me was wandering around a central square with two shotguns, sometimes firing at random, other times resting the guns against his shoulders as if on a Sunday stroll perhaps carrying one too many umbrellas. I was watching from a third story of a large office building as the gunman approached a nearby car. What the offender couldn't see was an armed policeman squatting behind the bonnet and what the crouched police officer couldn't see was the gunman approaching his concealed position. You could almost sense the inevitable before it happened. The police man started to rise looking for the offenders current position, not realising the gunman had moved and was now only metres away. Then the dreadful realisation, as the policeman broke cover that he was now face to face with two shotguns aimed directly at his head. This is the moment I still vividly recall, it's measured in fractions of a second, as the police officer makes a decision that might well cost his life, he knew it, the gunman knew it, i knew it watching on from the safety of my perch. Rather than duck down again the police officer did something utterly unexpected he slowly, ever so slowly came from his semi crouch behind the car to a full standing position eyeballing the gunman as he slowly rose. It was a spectacular display of bravery and resolve.
As I recall the officer was wearing a beret, something worn way back when by AOS members, before Kevlar helmets, special weapons and tactics. What followed was a moment of outrageous dramatic performance, the gunman pointing his shotgun at the cop, the cop pointing his rifle at the gunman who then shrugged his shoulders and rather than firing turned his back on the police officer, as if to say go on shoot me in the back then. The police officer stood his ground while the offender walked away and then the cop slowly sank back down resuming his position behind the car. It's more than forty years since that incident and over times details are lost, imaginings embellished, but the essence of what i've shared is true and accurate. I had witnessed some hero stumbling towards an archetypal myth where virtue challenged the fates.
Most Kiwi's probably remember that as the day the police dog Luke was shot, and that was certainly a horrendous moment to witness first hand as the bloodied dog dragged itself towards the outstretched arms of his waiting handler, but what the cameras didn't see and is still etched in my memory is that unknown police officer who said by his actions foolhardy or not, that I stand for something and i will not be cowered, Respect.
