Year of Bravery, Tragedy : Sheriff’s Dept. Honors Officers, Slain Deputy

It was a day to honor acts of valor, courage, merit and lifesaving by deputies and employees at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Wednesday also was a day to honor a lost colleague who would be remembered for his love of life, community and especially children.

Before a standing ovation of about 500 people, Sheriff Brad Gates presented a memorial medal to the widow of Deputy Darryn Leroy Robins, a seven-year veteran who was shot and killed by a fellow officer on Christmas Day during an impromptu training exercise behind a Lake Forest shopping center.

The first-ever memorial medal marked an emotional moment for many in attendance, who recalled the 30-year-old deputy’s love of helping schoolchildren resist drugs and gang involvement. He was known to hundreds of children as Deputy “Rappin” Robins for his frequent rap presentation of “Officer Friendly” at Lake Forest elementary schools.

“He was a positive role model for those kids,” Gates said. “Darryn dedicated his career to his community, and to the children within it.”

After the ceremony, Rosemary Robins smiled proudly as she held the framed medal for photographers. She declined to talk about her husband.

The memorial medal came as part of the sixth annual Sheriff’s Advisory Council Medal of Valor Luncheon at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa. The sheriff, assisted by actor Joseph Campanella, presented awards to 14 deputies and employees for outstanding acts above the usual call of duty in 1993.

The top medal of valor went to deputies Harry Watson, 39; Stephan Shandrick, 34; and William Siegrist, 33, who were fired upon by an armed bank robber after a high-speed pursuit last June that ended on a road in semirural San Juan Capistrano.

The deputies had been chasing the suspect from Laguna Hills, where the robbery had occurred, when the man suddenly pulled off Interstate 5 and opened fire as the three deputies pulled up in their vehicles. The gunman was killed in a hail of gunfire as the deputies scrambled for cover. The deputies escaped injury.

The medal of courage was awarded to five deputies for their roles in three dangerous situations: Jerrald Van Wyke II, 29, for saving his wife and bystanders from a suspected carjacker; Arthur Heise, 36, for risking his life in preventing a jail riot by stepping between two fighting groups in the chow hall; and Michael Toledo, 31, Thomas Lucas, 31, and Linda Bertagna, 34, for their work in catching suspected bank robbers who had opened fire at them during an attempted getaway.

The medal of merit was presented to Eva Steinberger, a senior criminalist, for her laboratory work involving DNA evidence testing. Techniques she helped develop recently helped investigators make an arrest in the slayings of a Mission Viejo woman and her infant. A bite mark on the victim’s arm yielded DNA evidence that led investigators to the suspect.

Medals for lifesaving acts were presented to Deputy Mark McCann, 32, who revived a jail inmate who had stopped breathing; Sgt. Clyde Walsh, 52, who revived a 5-month-old Laguna Hills baby; Reserve Deputy Don Hanson, 43, who, along with his bloodhound, found a missing elderly man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease; Reserve Deputy Bradley Howard, 35, who talked a man out of killing himself by jumping off a freeway bridge; and Deputy Jim Pena, 36, who helped save a Villa Park family from wildfire in October.

Deputy Bertagna, echoing the sentiments of other medalists, said the ceremony was the “highlight of my career.”

She said having “everyone here together” to honor Robins made the ceremony extra special.

The tribute to Robins was the first presentation of the day and brought a roar of applause from the audience, which included mayors, city officials and business leaders from throughout Orange County.

In one of the strangest incidents in the history of the Sheriff’s Department, authorities have said that veteran Deputy Brian P. Scanlan accidentally shot Robins in the head with his service pistol as they were re-enacting a traffic stop behind a Lake Forest shopping center.

The Orange County Grand Jury recently declined to indict Scanlan in the shooting. Prosecutors had recommended that Scanlan be charged with a count of involuntary manslaughter because of gross negligence. Scanlan’s 9-millimeter handgun was loaded despite regulations requiring only unloaded weapons be used for training purposes, authorities said.