9 Residents Are Honored for Acts of Heroism

A year ago last February, truck driver John Sullivan was tooling along Oxnard Street in Encino when a horrifying scene unfolded in front of him: A man wielding a large knife chased another man across the street and began stabbing him. Without another thought, Sullivan sprung into action. He rammed the car in front of him to get it out of the way, then drove onto the sidewalk to where the two men were fighting.

The Encino resident pried the knife away from the assailant, and while the attacker was pinned under the body weight of the victim, applied a tourniquet to staunch the gushing blood of the wounded man. He yelled at onlookers to call for help. Police and paramedics arrived several minutes later and the attacker was arrested.

Sullivan and eight others were honored as heroes by two booster clubs affiliated with the Los Angeles Police Department, the West Valley and Devonshire Police Activity League Supporters (PALS), at an annual citizens recognition luncheon at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys on Wednesday.

“They were able to overlook the hazards to themselves and were able to do the right thing and get involved,” said LAPD Sgt. Walt Kainz.

Among the honorees was Dennis D. Smith, who engaged in a shootout with two would-be robbers after one pointed a gun at him at his mother’s Reseda locksmith business in August. Smith wounded one suspect and convinced the gunman to throw down his weapon and a diamond ring that they had yanked off the finger of Smith’s mother, Jean Smith. The Los Angeles lawyer kept the suspects at bay until the police arrived.

Teen-agers Brenda Panameno, Gloria Arenivar and Jesus Garay were toasted for spotting a child molester suspect at Lanark Park and stalling him until police came to pick him up. Their successful ploy was deceptively simple: They challenged him to a game of Ping-Pong.

Others honored included: James Zeigler and Troy Galloway, who followed armed robbers in Granada Hills and West Hills, respectively, and contributed to their eventual arrest; Richard Silberberg, who followed a hit-and-run driver in Northridge and directed a police officer to the driver, and Raider Alba, who helped the officer get him under control.