Saving Lives, Foiling Crime Earn Valor Awards

It was just another Sunday afternoon, and David Wilson and his family were driving home from doing errands. What happened next earned Wilson a hero’s recognition during a Lakewood ceremony Thursday honoring 24 people with the city’s Award of Valor.

When Wilson stopped at a red light at Pioneer Boulevard and South Street on that May day, he noticed people frantically dashing around a man who was gasping for breath. Wilson pulled over and asked his son to call the paramedics. Just then, the man--who was later identified as Sadarshw Kumar--collapsed in front of a bus stop.

Kumar, who Wilson figured was in his 50s, was with family and was dressed nicely, Wilson recalled, “like he was on his way to a Sunday outing.” He had stopped breathing and was turning blue, the victim of a heart attack.

Using cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques he learned from television rescue programs, Wilson pumped the man’s chest while another bystander began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The other bystander was not identified.

“Mr. Wilson maintained Mr. Kumar’s vital signs until the paramedics arrived,” said Don Waldie, a spokesman for the City of Lakewood. “If it hadn’t been for Mr. Wilson keeping him going until the paramedics arrived, Mr. Kumar would have been dead.”

Wilson and his family waited until paramedics arrived, then went home to Lakewood where he resumed his life as an independent contractor. He learned only this week that Kumar survived.

“Really?” Wilson said. “Isn’t that a kick in the head!”

Helping people is something Wilson, 42, does. “I’ve helped a lot of people on the freeway. It’s always been something that I’ve done. I’ve never thought that much about it,” he said. “If I were in the same situation, I hope somebody would help me out. I’m just glad the guy made it. I always wondered what happened to him.”

So does the City of Lakewood, Waldie said. The phone number for Kumar has been disconnected. “We tried to invite him to the ceremony, but we never heard from him,” Waldie said. “Nobody’s sure where he is.”

Along with Wilson, the city honored:

Jeffery Walker, a sheriff’s deputy who pulled a man from a burning car.

George T. Walker (no relation to Jeffery Walker), a sheriff’s deputy who was on morning patrol when a distraught woman with a barely breathing toddler flagged him down. En route to the hospital, he radioed the emergency room and kept doctors posted on the child’s condition. The child recovered as a consequence of Walker’s quick actions.

Michael Thatcher and Araceli Cano, sheriff’s deputies who helped evacuate 30 patients from a burning convalescent home in Bellflower.

Larry Hambleton, Ted Borges, John Fedele, David Mann and Bill Niccum, firefighters and paramedics who freed two men from the twisted wreckage of an overturned truck in intense heat, knowing that the truck might explode.

Mike McLaughlin and Scott Robinson, firefighters and paramedics who took a toddler who had nearly drowned to the hospital. She lived because of their efforts.

Stanley Bixler, Steven Christensen, Michael Jasperson, James Mehl, David Salhus and Don Tayenaka, and Long Beach Memorial Hospital nurse Jeri Cueller, all of whom helped save the lives of five people ages 10 through 20 in a car accident that left two dead. Cueller attended the injured, who had been riding in a car that struck the center divider on Del Almo Boulevard in Lakewood. The car was torn in half and some of the passengers thrown from the vehicle. When the firefighters arrived, they rushed to free those trapped in the crushed vehicle.

Julia VanIderstine, a bank teller in Paramount, who became suspicious when an elderly woman in the company of two men asked to withdraw $25,000. VanIderstine stalled the withdrawal, called police and the men were arrested.

Jay Bedolla, a patron who witnessed an armed robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. He reported the license plate number and description of the car and suspects, which helped officers arrest two men.