He maintained his presence of mind, calmed a very exacerbated situation and called emergency medical technicians and police to the scene. Crime prevention assistant Ján Polyák, who has become an inherent component of the Brno Municipal Police team, has been given special recognition by the Czech Interior Ministry for handling the circumstances of a traffic accident on Cejl Street in Brno that he witnessed while off-duty.
When Polyák exited a tram at the Zábrdovice stop on 13 February, he saw the driver of a personal vehicle run into a group of young girls who, without looking, had carelessly run out into the road from behind a van without using the crosswalk. The light crash at low speed fortunately had no serious physical consequences for any of the girls, who suffered only mild abrasions.
Local residents, of course, immediately began to run out of the surrounding buildings to threaten the driver of the vehicle with physical assault. At the time of the accident, during less than one minute, around 80 people prepared to attack had gathered at the scene, so Polyák did not hesitate to instruct the driver, who was immediately interested in whether the girls were hurt or not, to get back into his car.
In order to rule out internal injuries to the girls, Polyák called an ambulance and informed both the municipal and state police of what was happening. He began to calm the impassioned crowd and explain to them what had happened.
Polyák enjoys great authority among many locals in the neighborhood, among other reasons because of the many recreational activities he has convened free of charge for local Romani adolescents and children. He endeavors to lead young people away from drug use and smoking by organizing football matches and jazz evenings.
Thanks to his standing in the community, onlookers, including the girls’ family members, listened to him and he managed to calm their emotions to a significant extent. Local police from an operational intervention group maintained order until the state police arrived.
The emergency medical technicians were able to examine the girls in a calm atmosphere and fortunately ruled out the possibility that they might have suffered internal injury. Polyák also provided the state police with his contact information should they need additional testimony from him.
Representatives of the Czech Interior Ministry have given him special recognition for his deeds as part of the award ceremony for the Best Crime Prevention Project by a Regional Authority, City or Town. "I do not consider myself to have done anything extraordinary," he modestly said during the ceremony.
Polyák has been a crime prevention assistant for the Brno Municipal Police for two and a half years. Currently four such assistants aid the force, one of whom works with Polyák in the Brno-sever Municipal Department, while two others work in the city center.
