Sheriff Awards 20 Medals for Courage, Merit

Special Officer Oliver Didio’s eyes burned with pepper spray as he reached for his gun to stop a man who had attacked him and was ramming his cruiser.

Didio managed to fire a shot, wounding the attacker in the neck. For his courage, Didio was among 20 employees honored Thursday by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at its ninth annual Medal of Valor Luncheon.

The awards are an opportunity to recognize deputies and others who, in the words of Sheriff Brad Gates, have performed deeds demonstrating “character and heart.”

“There are no manuals, there are no courses of instruction, there are no books to teach them to reach from within and put their lives on the line,” Gates told a crowd of more than 400 gathered at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel.

Many of the recipients were involved in some of last year’s biggest crime stories.

Senior forensic scientist James White was on a team that helped gather the DNA evidence needed to track down “bludgeon killer” Gerald Parker, who confessed to a series of rape-homicides in the Tustin and Costa Mesa area in the late 1970s.

White and five other scientists in the sheriff’s crime lab received the Medal of Merit.

“We never became uninterested in [the cases],” White recalled, adding that new technology helped the scientists. “The time seemed right.”

The 20 employees honored Thursday were involved in 13 incidents and received awards for courage, merit and lifesaving.

Didio won his Medal of Courage in an incident that occurred after he approached a suspicious-looking vehicle in a Fullerton parking structure. Didio was pepper-sprayed and retreated to his patrol car. The suspect then rammed the patrol car, and didn’t stop until Didio had wounded him with a gun shot to the neck.

All the while, Didio said, “just imagine having Tabasco sauce and sand thrown in your eyes. . . . It’s not something you want to go through to get an award like this, but it’s nice to be recognized by the department.”

Deputy Darren Sandberg, 25, of Mission Viejo was honored for her actions in an incident that occurred last year as he was returning home from training with another trainee and encountered a 71-year-old man who had suffered a heart attack. Although Sandberg was able to bring the man’s pulse back, the man died at the hospital.

“It’s a nice award, but I think anybody in my department would do the same thing,” Sandberg said. “I was just lucky to be there.”