TO SERVE, PROTECT AND REASSURE.
This is more than a motto for Constable Tyrone Straker. It is a life-long call to duty.
For this man who was recognised for his heroism last week Saturday, it is a call he takes so seriously that when he saw what appeared to be a man beating a woman on a public road on December 10, 2014, not even his own temporary physical impairment could keep him from lending immediate assistance. Tyrone was dealing with back and neck injuries sustained after being involved in an accident.
He related the experience in an interview with the Sunday Sun: “. . . I was on my way to physiotherapy and I was travelling in a Transport Board bus from Six Roads to Bridgetown. When the bus got into the area of Sky Mall (Haggatt Hall), I saw a large crowd assemble on both sides of the road [and] traffic was moving slowly . . . I saw the commotion on the other side of the road and what appeared to be a man beating a woman. I asked the driver to stop and made my way to the scene of the commotion.
“As I got to the area of the commotion . . . I realised the man was not beating the woman. He was cutting her up. Being a police officer, I just reacted. I approached with caution, but using a loud tone of voice. I said to him: ‘Don’t hit that woman again.’ He looked up at me and I said to him again, in a loud tone of voice: ‘Do not hit that woman again.’ It was making my presence felt. He looked at me, looked at her, looked back at me and then ran off.
“When the first police vehicle came, I gave a description of the clothes he was wearing and the direction he went in, and the police was able to apprehend him in less than 10 minutes on the opposite side of the road, in the area of Little Japan. When they caught him, they brought him back and asked me: ‘This is the guy?’ And I said, ‘Yes, this is the guy.’ They then took him to District “A” Police Station.”
But Tyrone’s protection of Marva Ward did not end there.
“After they left, I asked a neighbour to bring me a bed sheet, because people were arriving to take pictures . . . I stood in front of [Ward] until the person brought the sheet so we could have cover for her. The ambulance arrived shortly after and they did their job and took her off to the hospital.”
The 6-foot, 5-inch, 49-year-old recalled that around 50 people were at the scene when he arrived, watching while she lay on the ground asking for people to help.
“You could imagine the time it took for me to walk there, because I could not run . . . People were just stopping their cars and getting out and just looking. Nobody else did anything. Before I got there, people were taking pictures, but after the guy ran off, I stood in front of [Ward]. I could only tell [the onlookers] not to do it, but I don’t know if they did.”
Tyrone admitted at the time he did not consider his personal safety, but rather wanted to ensure that the victim did not sustain further harm.
“I would be very honest with you: I only thought about my own safety when everything was done. My thoughts in the initial stages were to get [the attacker] to stop what he was doing. Afterwards, when the other police came, people tell the police that if not for me, she would be a dead woman today,” he said, adding that he was trained in how to handle similar situations.
“If he moved towards me, my training would have told me to move in and get close, cause once I am in close, he can’t do anything [to me].”
But the 26-year veteran knew that a higher call was at play: “However you look at it, a policeman’s job is to serve, protect and to reassure. There is the other part of me as well . . . . Whether it be for the women side of the family or male side, I would not have liked anyone to do that to my family, so where I can help somebody, I will do it.”
Tyrone seemed not to shy away from tough situations.
Earlier that same week of the incident, Tyrone had intervened in a dispute in The City where two men were fighting with broken beer bottles. He escorted one to Central Police Station.
Perhaps it was the swift reaction to similar scenes that he saw on the silver screen, encouraging a boyhood dream to serve, protect and reassure.
“When I was growing up, I would watch police movies and was fascinated. There was SWAT, Kojak and those types of [shows]. I was working as a technician when they called, but because I was actually fulfilling my dream, I went,” he said.
The main duties as a constable include responding to complaints made by members of the public: “In doing that, you not only are a policeman – you are a doctor, psychologist . . . you become so many different professions because of the different problems that society has.”
One such problem he has identified was the seeming pervasiveness of selfishness.
“ . . . We live in a society right now that people are selfish. People only want to do something when there is a benefit to them. In the past, something like what happened to Ward would have never occurred because it would be a civic duty . . . to do something about it. Unfortunately, we live in a society where people are selfish.
“As people tell me, I was brave, but it was not that I was brave; I was just doing my job. I have a little spirituality to my life, and that helped me to do it too. The Lord says you should try to do whatever you can do for your neighbour, and your neighbour includes family as well as strangers. Once you can do something for them you would do it. That is where you get your reward.”
He also received a special earthly reward – Marva Ward’s gratitude for saving her life.
They reconnected after Ward’s mother “called every police station” in order to find the policeman who saved her daughter. After her search was unsuccessful, she contacted immediate past president of the National Organisation of Women (NOW), Marilyn Rice-Bowen.
“That was before Christmas. [Ward’s mother] told Marilyn Rice-Bowen and told her that if the policeman that saved her daughter’s life could come to see her in the hospital it would be the best Christmas gift she ever had. Marilyn Rice-Bowen used her contacts to find me and I visited Marva Ward in the hospital on the 24th of December. That woman was so happy.
“I have a strong presence, but when I went to visit her in the hospital, that moved me. It seemed as though she wanted to get up off the bed and hug me, but she could not because she still had on the bandages. That really moved me,” he recalled with a smile.
Tyrone still called to check up on Ward from time to time.
NOW also honoured Tyrone’s intervention with a recognition award, presented at the organisation’s biennial general meeting, held at the Warrens Office Complex last Saturday. Even as retirement looms closer on the horizon, one thing will never change: his will to serve, protect and reassure. (GBM)
