Looking up at a trapped disabled man, there was no hesitation and no questions were asked when Kingston Police Const. Walter O'Connor made the suggestion to scale a wall and climb into a burning building on Monday night.
O'Connor and Const. Zane Brillinger were both about three and a half hours into a busy overnight shift on patrol when they got the call to the apartment block at 16 Russell St. Initially the call was to assist another officer who responded to what was "a small fire in the hallway."
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"So I shouted up at him, 'Sir, you need to leave, the building is on fire,' but he's shouting down that he can't get out, he's disabled," O'Connor recalled.
Telling Brillinger, they ran over to the stairwell but were met by flames almost a couple of metres high. There was no way they were going in that way. So the pair ran back over to the man and there was only one simple solution.
"O'Connor just looked at me and in his best Irish accent he said: 'Brillinger, give me a boost,'" Brillinger said, with a laugh
