State Salutes Bravery of 4 From County

Four Ventura County residents who braved fire, water and violence to save others were honored as heroes Monday by Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp at a ceremony in Westlake Village.

In February, a man suspected of threatening his estranged wife was tackled by Richard Gonzalez, 37, a meat cutter from Fillmore, who held him until Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Gonzalez was one of 20 Southern Californians who received certificates from the attorney general for brave acts. Some citizens rescued residents of burning homes and pulled potential drowning victims out of the ocean, all without thought for their own safety.

“You have to get involved,” Gonzalez said. “What happens if you don’t? You just have to do it.”

For Gonzalez, who spent eight years in the Marine Corps, it was the second time in eight years he had saved another person’s life. In 1982, while in San Clemente, he prevented a child from choking.

The three other Ventura County citizens who were honored also reacted bravely after stumbling on unexpected danger:

In June, Denise Boczek was walking along the beach in Point Mugu when she heard cries for help from a drowning 7-year-old boy and his baby-sitter. She jumped into the water and rescued both.

In February, Chad Carper of Meiners Oaks saved a woman whose mobile home was ablaze by leading her outside and then extinguishing the fire with a garden hose.

Gerald Saavedra of Thousand Oaks was just cashing a check at a bank in December, 1989, when his wife, a bank worker, told him there had been a robbery. He caught the suspected robber and held him until sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Others honored were two Whittier residents who on Jan. 1 formed a rescue team with three neighbors to help a family out of a burning home and three Manhattan Beach men who saved a woman from rape by a knife-wielding assailant.

All were citizens who “came to the aid of the victims without hesitating, despite the potential danger to themselves,” Van de Kamp said.

In addition, 35 members of law enforcement from Los Angeles, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were honored for their valor and police work. They included peace officers, prosecutors and probation officials.

But it was the citizens who received special praise from Van de Kamp. He said neighbors and bystanders have helped police capture suspects and save victims --thus helping the legal community to do its job.

“Our job is ineffective unless we get the help of the local community,” he said.