Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell Thursday presented the Lifesaving Award to 32 members of the department for their actions that resulted in the saving or preservation of human life that otherwise would have been lost without the employee’s direct involvement.
The honorees included Deputies James Cullen and Jose Dominguez who provided CPR to a 10-month-old baby who was not breathing, then drove to a hospital while continuing to perform CPR, allowing the baby to survive, according to a statement from the department.
Sgt. Charles Weathers received an award for stopping to help several people critically injured in a head-on collision between a truck and small vehicle and a child trapped in the back seat of the truck. With the help of bystanders, Weathers used CPR and an external defibrillator to help the victims, the statement said.
Sgt. Todd Kammer and Deputies Jeffrey Tesdahl and David Wendlant saved the life of Deputy Elwood Crane when a wooden pallet carrying extremely heavy metal toolboxes fell atop Crane, crushing him.
Kramer, Tesdahl and Wendlant removed the debris that had crushed Crane, who was taken to a hospital by a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter. He is expected to make a full recovery thanks to the efforts of Kammer, Tesdahl and Wendlendt, the department reported.
Deputies Michael Foster, Luis Monreal, Manuel Saldivar and Isidro Villasenor responded to a home in Pico Rivera on an attempted suicide call and found a man approximately 13 feet off the ground, hanging from an electrical cord tied around his neck.
The man’s daughter was on top of a nearby fence, trying to lift her father and release him from the cord. The deputies joined the girl and, as they balanced precariously on the fence, were able to lift and release the man from the cord. The man survived and later visited the station to thank the deputies for saving his life, the department said.
Sgts. David Carver and Robert Renteria and Deputies Charles Gonzales and Clint Hughes were credited with saving the life of helicopter mechanic Duke Lam, who suffered life-threatening injuries when the tire of a department aircraft he was inflating suddenly exploded.
They tried to stop Lam’s uncontrolled bleeding using a combination of makeshift tourniquets and available medical equipment before he was taken to a hospital. Lam survived and attended the Lifesaving Award ceremony to express his gratitude for the sheriff’s department personnel who saved his life, according to the sheriff’s department.