COUNTYWIDE : 17 Deputies Honored for Valor, Merit

For Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Ripple, the events of May 8, 1989, will never be forgotten.

He has the scars where a car thief’s hollow-point bullet went through his head. He has the vivid memory of chasing after the gunman despite bleeding profusely from his wound.

For his brush with death, Ripple, 33, on Thursday was awarded a Medal of Valor and a Purple Heart.

“It’s very gratifying to be recognized like this,” Ripple said at the Sheriff’s Department’s second annual awards ceremony honoring 17 deputies for courageous or meritorious deeds. “I’m just very happy everything worked out all right. I’m back on the job, I’m feeling good, and the guy is in prison. What more could you ask for?”

The incident began on the morning of May 8 when Ripple responded to a call of a suspicious man in a vehicle parked in Mission Viejo. Before support could arrive, the suspect drove off in a stolen car with Ripple in pursuit.

The chase ended about six miles later in a cul-de-sac in the Nellie Gail Ranch area of Laguna Hills. The suspect “jumped out of the car and started firing at me,” Ripple, an eight-year veteran of the department, recounted. “One bullet hit the light bar on my patrol unit and the other came through the lower part of my windshield as I was exiting my vehicle.”

The bullet was deflected off the dashboard and struck the upper left side of Ripple’s head. Deputies John Heppert and Wayne Peters returned fire, hitting the suspect twice.

Despite his injury, Ripple grabbed a shotgun and ran after the wounded suspect, who was trying to escape. “I was bleeding hard, but I was breathing real good, so I figured I couldn’t be hurt that bad,” Ripple said. “The adrenaline kind of blocked out the pain.”

Ripple spent nine months in extensive therapy recovering from his wound. He had a large bruise on his brain and at times had trouble with his speech. Nevertheless, he was determined to return to patrol duty. Five weeks ago, he returned to work. “I’m not 100% yet, but I’m in the high 90s,” he said.

Heppert and Peters received Medals of Valor for their part. Also, Sgt. Dan Jarvis and Deputy Dan Noval received Medals of Courage and dispatcher Janice Fry earned a Medal of Merit for their efforts that night.

Six members of the sheriff’s bomb squad also received Medals of Courage for their work in a case in March, 1989, when chemicals at an Anaheim business were inadvertently mixed together, forming a volatile, explosive compound. The mixture, which had partially exploded and killed an employee at the plant, had spread out over a large area, making cleanup efforts difficult.

Those honored were Sgt. Charles Stumph, and Investigators James Baker, Leon Benningsdorf, Steve Garrison, Debra Navarro and Chris Weare.

Also honored Thursday were Sheriff’s Special Officer Brad Riches, Deputies David Guest and Matthew Barr, Medals of Courage; Deputies Tim Finneran Tom Smith, Medals of Merit.