PCs commended for burning car rescue efforts

Two police officers have been commended for bravery by their force which said they risked their lives attempting to save a driver from a burning car.

Warwickshire PCs Mateusz Dabrowski and Dominic Strange freed the man from a vehicle which crashed when a routine police stop escalated into a high-speed pursuit, the force said.

Accessing him was difficult but the officers stuck to the task despite knowing the car could explode at any moment, which it did after the pair finally pulled away the man and began CPR. Despite their efforts, he was declared dead at the scene.

Awarding the officers a commendation, Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith described the act as "bravery of the highest degree".

During the events of July 2023, the car was trapped in a hedgerow, with the front doors wedged shut and the man unconscious.

Eventually, PC Strange managed to get into the car through the back doors while PC Dabrowski used a fire extinguisher to try to protect his colleague and the casualty.

Warwickshire Police said PC Dawbrowski sent a "chilling" radio transmission during the rescue.

"We're really struggling," the message stated, adding of the casualty: "At the moment he's not conscious, he's not breathing, he's not responding to us, boss. The vehicle with the fire, it's too big. I can't get through, the fire's massive."

The chief constable described how "less than a minute" after they got the casualty out, the car exploded.

"Though they knew this was likely to happen, they certainly had no way of knowing when it would happen, every second they remained in that car is an act of bravery without equal.

"PC Dabrowski and PC Strange exemplify all that's good in policing and I hope they both take pride in what they did for the rest of their lives," he said.

The pair were also nominated for the National Police Bravery Awards 2025, which took place in London on Thursday.

Simon Payne, chair of the Warwickshire Police Federation, said the act was "one of the bravest things" he had come across.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated the incident, in line with procedure in such circumstances.

It concluded: "There was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings."

The IOPC added that both officers "acted in accordance with national guidance by trying to keep the public safe" and said their aftercare of the driver was "proportionate and necessary".

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