Hero cop Deane O'Conner says it was easier jumping off a bridge into dark, freezing waters to save a life than it was standing in front of people to accept an award for bravery.

The Tauranga Police officer stripped down to his underwear and dived into Tauranga Harbour last year to save a man, and received New Zealand Police Association's highest award as a result.

Senior Constable Deane O'Conner (centre) with PM John Key and the man he saved, Ashley Donkersley.

The Senior Constable was presented with the NZPA Bravery Award by Prime Minister John Key at a ceremony in Wellington yesterday.

Deane plunged into the harbour in August last year to save Ashley Donkersley, after the van he was in crashed through the railing on the Maungatapu Causeway bridge.

Deane kept hold of Ashley as the pair were swept along with the current and eventually followed a torchlight on the shore to safety 30 minutes later.

Tauranga man and driver of the van Greg Woledge, 24, died in the crash.

Iain Crisp, 45, was sentenced to community work and the Papamoa man was ordered to pay $49,000 to the victims after pleading guilty to careless driving causing death in April this year.

Read more here.

At the ceremony yesterday, Deane said: 'I'd just like to acknowledge the family of Greg, whose life was lost that night. That's all I can say.”

Describing the events of the night, Deane says he couldn't stand by and watch without helping.

He says he didn't think of the cold and knew he could reach Ashley.

Determined to keep Ashely conscious while in the water, Deane was uncharacteristically chatty.

He says; 'A lot of the time I was cracking jokes, telling him my wife would kill me if we didn't make it back. I wanted to keep his spirits up.

'I didn't want him to know how terrified I really was.”

Ashley, who became a father last week, says Deane is 'totally deserving” of the award.

He says while he's thinking of his mate Greg, he's glad Deane is getting the recognition he deserves.

'And from the Prime Minister, too - it doesn't get much higher than that,” says Ashley

Last year's heroic act wasn't the first time Deane has been credited for saving a life after he rescued a woman from a crash in Maungatapu in 1997.

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