A POLICE officer from Essex has been praised for saving the life of a motorist who became seriously ill at the wheel and crashed.

A POLICE officer from Essex has been praised for saving the life of a motorist who became seriously ill at the wheel and crashed.

The driver of a white Mini Cooper car lost control of his car and struck a lamp post in the accident, which happened just outside Marks Tey Railway Station just after 1pm on Boxing Day.

Pc Martin Brooker, from Stanway road policing unit, arrived at the scene before paramedics and realised the 20-year-old driver had become hypoglycaemic.

He injected the Colchester man with glucagons, helping raise his dangerously low blood sugar levels.

East of England Ambulance Service personnel have commended Pc Brooker, saying had it not been for him the incident “could have been more serious”.

The 26-year-old officer, who arrived at the scene with a colleague, is one of just four road policing officers in the county trained as an advanced medic and qualified just six months ago.

He said: “I completed a basic patient assessment and ruled out any other life-threatening injuries, before using some diagnostic equipment to discover the man had a low blood-sugar level.”

Although Pc Brooker had completed several day-long attachments with the ambulance service, it was the first life-threatening situation he had faced on his own.

The driver recovered and suffered just minor injuries which were treated by paramedics at the scene.

He was taken to Colchester General Hospital and released a few hours later.

Sharon Gosling, an East of England Ambulance Service paramedic, said: “When we arrived Pc Brooker had already administered glucagon, a drug which helps release glucose reserve in the liver usually restoring blood sugar level to normal.

“We assessed the patient and decided to administer a 10% glucose solution intravenously which brought the patient back to consciousness.

“This if a great example of ambulance crews and police officers working well together in what could have been a more serious incident.

“Thankfully Pc Brooker did a fantastic job in helping the 20-year-old man regain consciousness by giving the patient the appropriate level of care.”