'Bruce, go get her!': N.S. off-duty police officer pulls stranger from raging river

A Nova Scotia policeman is being hailed as a hero for a selfless act that may have saved someone's life.

Bruce Lake, an Inspector with the Truro Police Service was camping with his wife, Bernadette, and other friends in Fundy National Park on the weekend when the group went for a hike.

Halfway through the hike, at a bend in the river, they stopped to admire the rushing water following heavy rain the night before.

They noticed a trio of young people near a natural pool, with a young woman in the water.

Clinging to a rock, she was trying to get back to her friends, but the current was too strong.

Then she disappeared under the swirling-water.

"Before I even knew it was coming out of me, I hollered, "Bruce, go get her," said Bernadette Lake.

"I absolutely think I'm married to a hero. Without a question."

"I just picked a spot and jumped in, and I went fairly deep — and I didn't touch the bottom," Bruce Lake said.

Nor could he see anything.

With no other options, he reached around blindly and found the woman's arm.

"I grabbed her arm, and she was below me, so it was pretty deep there, and I pulled her in to me, I just pulled her in, and just swam for the surface," Lake said.

After making sure the woman was okay everyone went their separate ways.

One of the friends posted the details online, but Lake doesn't consider himself a hero.

He does, however, believe the story is an important reminder to be careful around waterways after heavy rain.

"What we don't appreciate is the days like Saturday, after a heavy rainfall the night before. The river was obviously… angry, very angry — there was a lot of water coming down, when you see that, you've got to appreciate that you might think the water's flowing downriver, but underneath that water — and I felt it — it pulls you in different directions," said Lake.

Lake knows just the first name of the young woman he pulled from the river. He said he’d be happy to hear from her if she’d like to reach out and recount her side of the story, which he believes would be just as compelling as his.

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