Andrew Niinemae

Andrew Niinemae is a 34-year-old telecommunications engineer and father of 3, from Cardiff. In July 2018, he risked his own life trying to stop a car from driving into a crowd of around 20 people outside a pub on Whitchurch High Street in Cardiff. He suffered serious injuries to his leg but his actions prevented other people from being seriously injured in the incident. 

The incident began when he broke up a fight between 2 men he did not know. Soon after, a car picked up one of the men and then drove towards the people on the pavement. Andrew smashed the car’s window in an attempt to remove the driver from the car. When this attempt failed, he then tried to pull the handbrake to stop it deliberately ploughing into a group of people. In an attempt to stop Andrew, the driver put the car in reverse and trapped Andrew between the car and a parked taxi. Following the collision with the taxi, the car left the scene at speed, leaving a trail of debris behind.

Following the incident, Andrew required emergency surgery. He had suffered a deep laceration to his left leg, as well as ligament and muscle damage to his arms and legs.

Andrew acted on instinct and showed courageous behaviour to put others before himself. Witnesses say that without his intervention, there could have been many injuries and possible deaths.