13 Los Angeles police officers recognized for heroism

Thirteen Los Angeles Police Department officers were recognized for heroism during a recent ceremony in Hollywood.

Police Chief Charlie Beck last week presented the officers and detectives with the department’s highest honors, the Medal of Valor and the Purple Heart. This was the second year the Purple Heart was bestowed on officers who suffered grave injuries in the line of duty.

The officers included men and women, some injured or put at risk while on patrol, on undercover assignments or headed home after work. Three Purple Hearts went to officers shot during a foot chase of an armed suspect in 1949.

Among those honored was Officer Stacy Lim, who in 1990 was followed home by four gang members. As Lim got out of her car, she was shot in the chest with a .357 Magnum revolver.

The bullet damaged her heart, spleen, stomach, intestines and liver, but she got up and returned fire at the gang member wielding the gun. Lim struck the man in the chest and neck, taking him down.

Another officer, Oscar Bryant, responded to a robbery call at a dress shop in South L.A. When he arrived, four suspects were still in the store. As Bryant ordered them to line up and raise their hands, one robber shot him. The officer fell. He returned fire and wounded the man who shot him, along with another suspect. Bryant later died of his injuries.

Four officers were given Medals of Honor, including Det. Craig Marquez, who in December 2011 shot and killed Tyler Brehm, who had randomly shot at passersby at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.

Brehm was upset over his recent breakup with his girlfriend. Marquez was in plain clothes that day when a transient in the area told him about the gunfire. People sought cover behind cars and parking meters. When the gunman ran toward Marquez, the detective shot and killed him.

More than 800 people, including Jamie Lee Curtis, attended the ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.

Beck called the honors “timeless tributes” to those who went above and beyond their duty.

“We’re saying thank you for valiantly protecting the residents of Los Angeles,” he said.

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com