Honoring police bravery

Today the Los Angeles Police Department honors 21 of its bravest with its highest honor — the Medal of Valor. Since 1925, the Board of Police Commissioners has bestowed the annual award to officers who surpass the day-to-day demands of their jobs and demonstrate "conspicuous bravery or heroism" and perform "an act displaying extreme courage while consciously facing imminent peril." Below are the recipients and their stories, dating back over a decade, supplied by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officer Carlos Quintero and his partner Officer Ivan Vintamilla were driving to their division when they spotted a burning motor home. The officers pulled over with a fire extinguisher, but the blaze had already engulfed too much of the home. Hearing sounds from inside, Vintamilla rushed and confirmed that someone was trapped. Quintero attempted to rescue the victim by breaking a back window, but the victim's skin peeled off, and flames reached the lower half of his body as Quintero struggled to pull him out. Unfortunately, the victim died at the scene, but the officers will be commended for heroism and willingness to sacrifice their safety to help another.

A routine traffic stop went frighteningly awry after Officer Humberto Franco noticed that the occupants of the car he'd stopped seemed to be concealing a weapon. Van Nuys Area Gang Impact Team Officers Thomas Appleby and Isaac Moreno arrived on the scene and ordered the passengers out, but the front passenger refused. instead, he rushed into traffic, pulled a handgun from his waistband, and fired several shots at the officers. Appleby returned fire, while Moreno and Franco held theirs for the safety of passing drivers. Franco corralled the other suspects while Appleby and Moreno chased the shooter, who attempted to take a hostage. Appleby and Moreno, with the help of a security guard, finally subdued the suspect — who continuously aimed his weapon at the officers, even after he had fallen to the ground from gunshots — and took him into custody. The suspect died of his injuries. The event occurred within two minutes and put more than 100 people at risk, and required the officers to make several split-second decisions over when to use lethal force.

Responding to a radio call in less than a minute, Officers Jesse Cardenas and Jesus Parra arrived to find a burning vehicle and a trapped driver. Cardenas smashed the front window, unlocked the door, and both officers grabbed the unconscious victim and dragged him out of the car, enduring extreme heat. Cardenas moved the victim away from the car while Parra looked for other passengers. Within seconds, the car went up in flames. Witnesses, including a news photographer, confirmed that the officers' quick actions saved the victim from certain death.

Officer Joel Flores and then-Officer Steve Chung were on routine patrol when they noticed a car driving quickly and erratically. Thinking the driver might be impaired or the car stolen, Chung tried to intercept him, but the officers lost sight of the car. After a short search, they saw that the driver — a 15-year-old who didn't have his parents' permission to take the car — had crashed into a power pole and broken his leg. He was trapped, and the car was in flames. The officers, carefully avoiding downed live power lines, rescued him just before the fire engulfed the entire car.

Sergeant Gregory Hoskins spotted a suspect driving a stolen car. Hoskins pursued the suspect through several cities before the suspect stopped at the Hustler Casino, jumped out of his car, pointed a gun to his own head, and walked toward the casino entrance. One officer shot a single round at the suspect to stop him from entering the crowded casino, but he missed, as did security guards. Hoskins and nine officers followed him inside as patrons crouched on the floor and tried to escape. The suspect took a hostage, let her go, and pointed the gun to his head and said "shoot me," just as Officers Matthew Murray and Brent Riedrich arrived. The suspect took another hostage as Hoskins, Murray, and Riedrich approached, without cover, from each side. When the suspect refused to surrender and continued to threaten the hostage, Murray fired one round and hit the suspect in the head. The hostage was uninjured, and the suspect taken into custody, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

After answering a domestic violence call with his partner, Officer Scott Burkett heard gunshots from a nearby intersection. He headed toward the sound and saw a wounded man on the ground, next to a black car. The driver pointed an AK-47 assault rifle at Burkett, who took cover and called for the suspect to stop. But the suspect drove toward Burkett, and aimed the rifle at the officer, as Burkett fired at him. The suspect sped away unharmed, and Burkett ran toward the car to get its license plate number. A woman at the scene said Burkett's actions saved her life. Within a few weeks, the suspect, a gang member, was arrested.

A reckless driver on Vermont Avenue went from throwing beer cans and lit cigarettes at officers on the street to shooting at them with an automatic weapon. The driver and his passenger drove up and down the street, making several U-turns, and stopped about 10 times, shooting 15 to 50 rounds at officers, breaking the windshields of several squad cars. None of the officers returned fire out of concern that stray bullets might strike passersby. Braving gunfire, Officers Trevor Jackson and Richard Ramos drove up to either side of the car, trying to engage the suspects. After the suspects hit a fence and continued shooting, the officers finally returned fire. The passenger was shot and killed, and the driver seriously injured in what became the third biggest gun battle in LAPD history. Despite the shots to windows of police cars, not one officer was hurt.