SANTA ANA : Top Cops Honored for Heroic Service

Twice last year, Santa Ana Police Officer Jay Miller helped avert suicides by calming distraught people who threatened to leap from freeway overpasses long enough for other officers to pull them away.

Officer Kevin DeDeaux saved the lives of two people, in one case resuscitating a suspect who collapsed and stopped breathing following a heroin overdose.

Miller and DeDeaux were among 31 police officers honored at the city’s annual police employee recognition awards ceremony Thursday for heroic or extraordinary service.

During the ceremony at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange, attended by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, and Santa Ana City Council members John Acosta, Robert L. Richardson and Patricia A. McGuigan, the officers received certificates of commendation from Police Chief Paul M. Walters and Mayor Daniel H. Young.

“It does make you feel good,” DeDeaux said of the recognition. “It feels great to help. That’s why I became a cop.”

Officer Oliver Grant, a 17-year veteran, received his award for rescuing a man during a daytime armed robbery. Recalling the incident, Grant said he had just apprehended a car-theft suspect and placed him in the back seat of his patrol car when he saw two men robbing an elderly man while holding a knife to his throat.

“I did a double take. Even as a police officer, you don’t expect to see that. What really ticked me off was the audacity of these guys. They thought they could do whatever they want to whoever they want,” he said.

When Grant approached the suspects with his gun drawn, one of the men fled and the other faced the officer and raised his knife. Grant fired three times, hitting the suspect twice and knocking him to the ground.

Grant said that although he appreciated his award, it was a little embarrassing. He added that although the recognition is important for officers, helping people is what’s truly gratifying.

“When you can have a real impact and stop someone from getting hurt, that’s the real reward,” he said. “When that (robbery victim) said ‘Thank you,’ that’s the real thank you. That was a real rush.”

After the ceremony, Acosta praised the award recipients but also emphasized that all police officers deserve special recognition.

“It takes a very special breed of person to want to be a police officer,” the councilman said. “They put their life on the line every single day they put on a uniform.”