Two Niagara Parks Police officers credited with saving two lives in 2009 received commendations from Chief Doug Kane and members of the Niagara Parks Commission during the commission’s Apr. 23 meeting. On July 21, last year, Sgt. John Clark plunged into the forebay of the Canadian Niagara Power plant at about 11:24 p.m., to rescue a woman who was “very clearly in distress,” acting chairman Archie Katzman said.

Tourists had discovered the woman in the water, ran to Table Rock House and called 911. When Clark arrived, he threw a rope to the woman, but she was too weak to grab it. He fastened the rope to a wall and entered the water himself. He swam to the woman and held her against a concrete wall for 45 minutes while firefighters and police figured out how to pull them both out of the water.

On March 22, Const. Kim Burke discovered a missing Niagara Falls man, who was the subject of a police search, stranded in bushes at Kingsbridge Park, close to toppling into the Welland River.

“The actions of Const. Burke… for all intents and purposes saved the life of the missing male as he was heavily concealed and could have been overlooked,” Katzman said.

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