|
Woman is plucked from sea
A TAXI driver was today hailed a hero after running into the sea to pull a woman to safety.
Adam Rewcroft, a former soldier in Iraq and Bosnia, says anyone would have done the same.
"I just ran in after her and didn't think about it."
He has become known as the real-life 'Scarborough Samaritan'. Last year Mr Rewcroft stepped in to prevent a woman being sexually assaulted in the town and, earlier this year, he revived a man who was having a seizure in Bland's Cliff and took him to hospital.
In the latest rescue, Mr Rewcroft, 34, who drives for Nippy Taxis in St Thomas Street, had picked up the woman from Scarborough Hospital on Saturday afternoon. She asked to be taken to the seafront.
After dropping off the woman near the crab stalls, Mr Rewcroft immediately dialled 999 because he was concerned for the woman's well-being.
But while he was speaking to a police operator he lost sight of the 33-year-old woman.
"I then looked and saw her bobbing up and down," added Mr Rewcroft, who lives in a flat in Scarbo-rough town centre. "I ran to the beach and threw off my jacket. I waded into the sea and pulled her out.
"I had to do something. But when I got to her she was saying 'Get off me, I want to die'.
"I was walking back towards the lifeboat house with the woman when police arrived. I hope she's now receiving the help she needs."
Mr Rewcroft, a former Queen's Guardsman, left the Army in 1993. He spent time travelling before taking a job as a taxi driver.
Tracy Fordyce, from Nippy and Atlas Taxis, said: "It's the third time he's rescued someone. He's a bit of a Scarborough samaritan, a real local hero."
Scarborough police spokesman Keith Froggatt said a 33-year-old woman was taken into police custody before being admitted to Cross Lane Hospital. He added: "The actions of the taxi driver probably saved this woman's life."
_________________ Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. George Carlin
|