AN army medic who crawled through a broken minibus window to treat and rescue a youngster has been praised by North Yorkshire Police.

Sergeant Michele Pownall, 34, came across two crashed vehicles on the A59 Skipton road last week, while she was returning from taking her baby daughter to a local nursery.

A coach carrying school children and a minibus transporting a young boy and an adult had collided.

She said: "There must have been 50 school children on the coach who appeared to be ok so I asked one volunteer to try and find out if any of them or the driver were injured and to call me over if they were.

"The minibus was in a ditch and its doors were badly damaged, preventing anyone getting out or me getting in. I spoke to the driver and a young boy through the broken window and the child was distressed and appeared to have a head injury."

Sgt Pownall, a trained combat medic, then covered the jagged glass of the window with a blanket from their ambulance and climbed inside. While paramedics assessed the driver for injuries, she calmed and reassured the boy in the minibus and treated his injuries.

A North Yorkshire police spokeswoman said: "Sergeant Pownall’s actions brought comfort to the young boy.

"Due to the damage caused to the bus, the fire service had to extricate him, and a situation that could have been a hugely upsetting for him was calmed thanks to Sergeant Pownall’s quick thinking."

Three days earlier, Sgt Pownall had also stopped and given aid at another collision in the area.

She said: "I could not believe that I was putting all my medical skills into practice once again. I have only been back at work three weeks following maternity leave."