Weightlifters Saved Woman, Baby : Police Honor 3 Muscular Heroes

Murray Robinson, Rickey Wilson and Frank Wilson were in the right place at the right time. They also have muscles.

As the three weightlifters left the Van Nuys gym where they regularly work out on Sept. 26, 1987, they saw a man attacking a woman and her baby. They ran to a nearby intersection, wrestled the man to the ground and held him until police came.

On Thursday, their actions were called heroic by Los Angeles police and community leaders as the trio and 11 other citizens were honored for risking their safety to help stop crime or help people in trouble.

The 14 were awarded certificates by police at a banquet sponsored by the Mid-Valley Community Police Council, a police booster group. Most of the recipients took the accolades in stride, saying they had no choice but to get involved.

“The guy just pushed the mother down, grabbed the baby and started hitting this little baby on the head with his fist,” Robinson, 39, said of the attack at Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way.

“There were a lot of people standing around, not doing anything,” added Rickey Wilson, 28. “We couldn’t just let it happen. We ran over and stopped it.”

Frank Wilson, 26, who is not related to Rickey Wilson, said the three body builders were able to quickly subdue the attacker, who had become violent after taking drugs. They held the struggling man until he was arrested. Then, they had to help the officer put the man into a patrol car.

Sgt. Robert Shallenberger said in his report that the quick action of the three men “prevented the possible death of the child and mother.”

After Thursday’s banquet, attended by about 200 people, Shallenberger praised all 14 recipients.

“They all did something more than what was normally expected,” Shallenberger said. “Fortunately, there seems to be no shortage of these kind of people.”

Others honored were:

Lee Ray Dominick, who stopped his car on the San Diego Freeway on Feb. 26, and kicked out the windshield of a burning car to save the driver who was trapped inside after an accident.

David R. Davis, who followed a stolen car Jan. 23 and called police from his car phone, resulting in a suspect’s arrest.

David Mills, who alerted police July 28 to a possibly stolen Porsche he saw parked on a Van Nuys street, allowing police to watch the car and arrest four suspected auto thieves.

John Drake, Christa Lee Roberts and Mitchell Wayne Scott, who helped police capture burglars after spotting the suspects near their homes.

Isaac Martin Garcia, Kerwin S. Lashley, Carlton Gail Price, Brian Scott James and James Koontz, who chased and captured suspects they saw snatch purses from elderly women.