People : Spotlight on achievers : HUNTINGTON BEACH : City to Honor Good Samaritans

A team effort by the Bello family saved a drowning man.

Eva Bello saw the man at the bottom of the swimming pool at the Huntington Beach apartment complex where she lives with husband Robert, daughter Tatiana, 10, and son Robert Jr., 26.

While the daughter called 911, the son dived into the pool and pulled the man from the water.

“I’m happy that I helped save his life,” said Tatiana, a fifth-grader at Circle View School.

The Bellos will be among 19 residents and city employees recognized today at Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 24th annual Public Safety Awards luncheon at the Waterfront Hilton.

For their swift action, the family will be given a Good Samaritan Award, one of the chamber’s honors to local heroes for acts of heroism, valor and public service.

City employees will be cited for outstanding dedication to their jobs.

The program is a way “to say thank you to those people who are willing to get involved and go beyond the call of duty,” said Joyce Riddell, the chamber’s executive director.

“There’s so many cases in society where people turn and look the other direction,” she said.

Other recipients of the Good Samaritan Award are city lifeguards Greg Crow and Jeff Koller, who were working out at a local gym when a man suffered a massive heart attack.

The lifeguards, who were off duty, gave the man CPR and kept him alive until paramedics arrived.

“He was pale and turning blue. . . . He wasn’t breathing, and his heart was not beating,” said Crow, a Marine Safety lieutenant.

“It was neat to have all the things we learned to do at work and apply it out of the workplace,” Crow said.

Others who will be recognized with Good Samaritan Awards are resident Dick White and Fire Department Capts. Mike McKay and Guy Burnell.

The award for valor will be presented to Fire Capt. Jim McKay, who jumped from the city pier into heavy seas to rescue a surfer.

Resident Mark Stemmer will be honored for heroism for assisting police during the July 4 disturbance downtown.

Those receiving merit awards will be Police Sgt. William Van Cleve; Police helicopter mechanic David Marquez; Police Sgt. Patrick Clemens; Public Works associate civil engineer Deborah Debow; the Marine Safety Swift Water Rescue Team, and firefighters Mike Perry and Ron Stocking.