Calgary police chief's awards gala honours courageous acts by officers and civilians

The Calgary Police Service held an event Thursday night to celebrate 14 citizens and 35 officers who performed exemplary acts of courage.

Calgarian Nestor Aravena-Bonastre is one of the citizens who was honoured at the annual Chief's Awards Gala.

Last August, he spotted a teen sitting on the edge of a bridge at Macleod Trail near 78th Avenue with her legs dangling over the edge.

The girl told him she intended to end her life and he pleaded with her not to jump as he ran up the steep embankment to reach her, police said in a Facebook post about Aravena-Bonastre's Award of Exceptional Recognition.

"As he got closer, she went over the ledge and hung by her hands. Nestor made a split-second decision and grabbed hold of her arms to stop her falling," police said.

"Nestor hung there, leaning over the bridge, holding the girl for more than three minutes in 35-degree temperatures before police arrived. An officer arrived, leaned over the edge and grabbed hold of the girl's leg to pull both her and Nestor back to a safe location."

The young woman was taken to hospital.Aravena-Bonastre said the incident left him shaken but he was happy to do it.

"After this was hard because I think, I think of my family, my daughters, my sisters," he said.

Interim Chief Steve Barlow said it's important to thank outstanding members of the community every year.

"We live in a society where there's a lot of negativity, and when we get the opportunity to celebrate success I want to just say thank you," he said.

Woman pushed onto train tracks

Another award recipient was Alex Harris. He was making his rounds as a member of the DOAP (Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership) team when he witnessed someone push a woman onto the LRT tracks at the Stampede station.

"I ended up going down on the tracks she had a pretty severe fall, so we were worried about her head and her back and neck," he said.

Harris was partnered with Calgary Transit peace officer Kitty Aalders that day, who signalled the arriving CTrain to stop and arrested the woman suspected of pushing the victim. While this was going on, Harris helped the injured woman.

Aalders said Harris was able to stay focused even though many bystanders were giving him conflicting advice.

"They were calling him to take her off the tracks, get her off the tracks. Buthe just knew what he had to do and that's stabilize her, whichsaved her at the end," she said.

Aalders received the Award of Exceptional Recognition.Harris was given the Award of Exceptional Recognition for Life Saving.