In a pleasant and joyful ceremony, Robert Luna, head of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, presented the 2024 Valor Awards medals to 26 officers and citizens who stood out for going beyond their duties and risked their lives to save the of others with acts that surpassed heroism.
“It is important to recognize the work of all these men and women, because they give everything,” Luna told La Opinión. “Every day they risk their lives; Their families know it and they could not do this work without the love and support of their loved ones.”
The Medal of Valor is the highest honor awarded to LASD members who perform acts of bravery, selflessness and sacrifice while serving their communities.
In 1982, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Valor Awards program was established to officially and publicly recognize exceptionally heroic acts performed by members of the LASD, with the highest awards: the Meritorious Conduct Medal and the Medal for Worth. These badges and awards symbolize acts of bravery, personal dedication, lasting physical trauma, and selfless sacrifice in the service of others with the ultimate goal of saving lives.
“In this race you always have to think about other people,” added Sheriff Luna, who presided over the event at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles. “You must be last and these men and women sacrifice everything to serve the community.”
Those kinds of servants are what the LASD is looking for, particularly in the Latino community, he added.
They save a stabbed victim and a girl
Officers Christopher A. Abeyta, Travis D. Jaime, German Ochoa and Laura P. Garcia of the LASD Norwalk Station received the silver medal for meritorious conduct.
On June 28, 2018 they responded to a stabbing at a two-story apartment complex.
When they arrived at the scene, a victim was lying in the upper hallway, bleeding profusely.
Area residents had left the building and notified deputies that a suspect was inside the apartment.
Recognizing the severity of the situation, officers quickly created a plan to remove the suspect.
The four deputies (Ochoa is now a sergeant) provided safety cover equipped with a shield, while Sheriff Laura García-Tinajero rescued and handed the victim over to waiting paramedics and then rejoined the team on the overhead catwalk.
“The suspect was inside the apartment, with an 8-year-old girl,” officer García-Tinajero told La Opinión. “When we arrested the suspect, we rescued the girl.”
Agent García-Tinajero, born in Michoacán and daughter of Mexican parents, said that on that occasion the only thing she thought was that she had to act.
“We had to save the life of the victim and the baby,” said the agent, who joined the LASD in 2013. “We had to act quickly and I think everything was resolved in about five or ten minutes.”
During the event, officer Jaime kept the shield; Detective Ochoa deployed the ARWEN, a less-lethal chemical irritant launcher that fires 37mm ammunition to inflict blunt force trauma, and Officer Abeyta fired his TASER gun.
The team approached the door and found it open. They then issued verbal commands to the suspect to come out and surrender. The girl was coming after him. She was rescued and the subject was arrested.
“I am proud of the work we did,” said Officer Laura P. García-Tinajero.
“It was hot…very hot.”
On April 3, 2019, Officers Christine R. Adams and Nicholas O. Gallardo of the LASD Compton Station responded to a structure fire and rescued Christina Kerr.
It was 11:50 pm when the house in the 700 block of Long Beach Boulevard was burning.
Officer Adams heard a weak scream from someone asking for help from the patio of the house and through the smoke she ran towards the place, while Gallardo notified her that there was a woman trapped on the other side of the wall, inside a structure of plywood between two buildings, with an aluminum awning.
Gallardo helped his partner climb to the top of the wall and Adams made contact with the woman, who could not get out.
Smoke and flames were filling the structure and Adams was having trouble breathing.
Mrs. Christina Kerr collapsed and became unconscious, so Adams had to act quickly and lifted the aluminum awning and jumped into the house.
For his part, Officer Gallardo stood on the brick wall, attempting to break the plywood walls.
Officer Adams reached the woman, who was able to regain consciousness, and Gallardo placed chairs on both sides of the wall so he could lift the woman up the wall and place her in a safe location.
“It was hot. Very hot,” declared Officer Gallardo to La Opinión. “To be honest, I never thought I would save a life. We always try to do our best.”
In addition to receiving the Medal of Valor, Gallardo was congratulated by a large group of family and friends.
“It was just another day in Compton and I’m happy we were able to save our lives and that’s who we are,” he said. “I was trained to do it, but it was very dangerous…It was hot…very hot.”
Deserving of the Humanitarian Medal
Citizens Pablo Peña, Fredy Hernández, Dawaun Lucas, Cynthia Ramírez and Víctor Martínez were awarded the Humanitarian Medal.
On July 5, 2020, José Elías Aguilar, 30, was arrested for murdering a 13-year-old girl during a carjacking in Pico Rivera.
Four years later, Aguilar was found guilty of 17 charges, including first-degree murder, bodily injury to a child, four counts of kidnapping for auto theft, three counts of attempted kidnapping for auto theft, and eight counts of car theft. car.
“I saw the person who stole the car with a girl inside and he wanted to open more cars,” said Fredy Hernández, a taki and snow seller on the street. “When the car went down the river and came out, I wanted to open more cars; I was angry and I let him go.”
José Elías Aguilar was driving drugged. Not even eight people could control it.
“We saved the child’s life,” declared Fredy. “Later, a police officer told me that he had killed a girl.”
Hernández, born in Guadalajara, Mexico and who is married and has two children, commented that he took the risk of arresting that subject without measuring the danger.
“I’m Mexican,” he said. “I just thought, chin%*e your mother, let it be whatever God wants. “We are going to give it to him, and God wanted us to save that child.”
His father, Rafael Hernández, praised Fredy for helping and acting bravely to subdue that murderer.
“He did what he had to do,” said Mr. Hernández. “I think that all of us, as citizens, if we see someone in danger, we should help without thinking twice…those are the values that we Mexicans have.”
Stabbed by a criminal
Retired Detective Elliot M. Uribe, who joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 1991, vividly remembers January 8, 2018 when, in the line of duty, he was stabbed by a criminal in Santa Clarita.
Uribe, recipient of the Line of Duty Medal this year, was leaving a Jack in the Box fast food restaurant.
While walking to his vehicle, he was hit by a stranger.
“You are a police officer,” said that guy, who, without any regard or saying a word, stabbed the officer in the chest.
“I have been the victim of a 245 (stabbing),” Uribe, who worked for the Special Victims Office of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, managed to report.
“In a split second, his hand lunged forward and stabbed me right in the chest,” Uribe shared with La Opinión. “Then he turned around and ran.”
The former detective gave a description of the scene of the attack and the suspect and the area was literally flooded with patrols.
With the help of police dogs, several hours later, they found the suspect and arrested Donald Chinchilla, 21, who was charged with attempted murder.
“There was a point where I was able to sense that he was hurt and also gather information from the suspect,” Uribe said. “It was something natural because of my experience and training.”
Likewise, the former detective even took time to pray inside his car.
“Calm and peace invaded me, so I had the feeling that everything was going to be okay,” he said. “I am a man of faith, and I know that God was taking care of me.”