August 19, 2019
A Queensland police officer and a former colleague have received Bravery Medals (BM) for their efforts during an incident which occurred at Cherbourg more than 20 years ago.
Sgt Paul Cox, who is now stationed at Beenleigh, and former officer Matthew Hassen, from Bulimba, were among 74 people from across Australia whose courage was recognised on Monday by Governor-General David Hurley AC in the 2019 Australian Bravery Awards.
“Australian Bravery Awards recognise and celebrate Australians who, faced with a dangerous or perilous situation, think not of themselves or their own safety but about others,” the Governor-General said.
“These individuals deserve our admiration – they are an inspiration and examples of the sort of selfless sacrifice that we can all aspire to.”
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Mr Matthew Hassen’s citation reads:
On December 5, 1998, Mr Matthew Hassen, then a Senior Constable, was involved in calming a civil disturbance event that included an armed offender at Cherbourg in Queensland.
In the early hours of the morning Senior Constable Hassen and another police officer were on duty when they were notified of a disturbance involving a local family and a crowd of over 100 people in a nearby street. As the first police officers to arrive at the scene they saw the crowd of people was spread over a distance of some 40 metres, mostly in two groups. They identified some members of the crowd as earlier having an agitated confrontation with the officers.
Senior Constable Hassen’s colleague exited the police vehicle while he alerted other colleagues to the situation via the police radio. The angry crowd began to hurl rocks and bottles towards the police vehicle. Senior Constable Hassen’s colleague re-entered the police vehicle and the officers decided on a plan of action.
As the two groups of people yelled threats at each other, Senior Constable Hassen and the other officer got out of the police vehicle and each headed towards a different group. They both attempted to calm the groups and diffuse the hostile environment.
At this time, a man from one of the groups, armed with a shotgun, ran from the rear of a nearby house, loading the weapon as he ran. Without hesitation Senior Constable Hassen ran towards the armed offender who discharged the shotgun. He placed himself between the armed offender and the crowd and was then able to disarm the man and secure the shotgun inside the police vehicle.
A short while later, the same offender reappeared with a rifle and fired two shots towards the angry crowd. Senior Constable Hassen and another man tackled the offender to the ground and the rifle was removed and placed in the police vehicle. The offender was then moved to a nearby garage and away from the angry crowd.
During this time the other officer had been surrounded by the crowd and several people were jostling and pushing him about. A man then swung a punch to the rear of his head. Despite this he remained calm and continued to reason with the hostile crowd in an attempt to prevent further violence.
Other police officers then arrived on the scene and the decision was taken to withdraw for safety reasons.
By his actions, Mr Hassen displayed considerable bravery.
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Sgt Cox’s citation reads:
On December 5, 1998, Sgt Paul Cox, then a Senior Constable, was involved in calming a civil disturbance event that included an armed offender at Cherbourg in Queensland.
In the early hours of the morning Snr Const Cox and another police officer were on duty when they were notified of a disturbance involving a local family and a crowd of over 100 people in a nearby street.
As the first police officers to arrive at the scene they saw the crowd was spread over a distance of some 40 metres, mostly in two groups. They identified some members of the crowd as earlier having an agitated confrontation with the officers.
Snr Const Cox exited the police vehicle while the other officer alerted colleagues to the situation via the police radio. The angry crowd began to hurl rocks and bottles towards the police vehicle. He re-entered the police vehicle and he and his colleague decided on a plan of action.
As the two groups of people yelled threats at each other, Snr Const Cox and his colleague got out of the police vehicle and each headed towards a different group. They both attempted to calm the groups and diffuse the hostile environment.
At this time, a man from one of the groups, armed with a shotgun, ran from the rear of a nearby house, loading the weapon as he ran. Without hesitation Snr Const Cox’s colleague ran towards the armed offender who discharged the shotgun. The officer placed himself between the armed offender and the crowd and was then able to disarm the man and secure the shotgun inside the police vehicle.
A short while later the same offender reappeared with a rifle and fired two shots towards the angry crowd. Snr Const Cox’s colleague and another man tackled the offender to the ground and the rifle was removed and placed in the police vehicle. The offender was then moved to a nearby garage and away from the angry crowd.
During this time Snr Const Cox had been surrounded by the crowd and several people were jostling and pushing him about. A man then swung a punch to the rear of his head. Despite this he remained calm and continued to reason with the hostile crowd in an attempt to prevent further violence.
Other police officers then arrived on the scene and the decision was taken to withdraw for safety reasons.
By his actions, Sgt Cox displayed considerable bravery.
[UPDATED]
