Schwarzenegger awards state's highest honor for police valor

28

Sep 2010

Ten California peace officers today were awarded the Medal of Valor, their profession's highest award for heroism, for acts last year that ranged from pulling motorists out of burning vehicles to rescuing a judge who had been stabbed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown presented the awards in a 45-minute Capitol ceremony.

Honorees included two Sacramento-area officers - Deputy Ken Skogen of the Placer County Sheriff's Department and Detective Eric Bradley of the Lodi Police Department.

Bradley was recognized for shooting to death David Paradiso who, while testifying on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend, grabbed a shank from his leg brace and injured a judge by stabbing her in the neck and arm.

Skogen was honored for pulling an elderly woman from her burning home moments before it burned to the ground near Rock Creed Road and Highway 49 in Placer County.

Other honorees were:

California Highway Patrol Officers Rodney Richards and Jason Smith, Redding area, who rescued the driver of a burning tractor trailer rig and help extinguish the victim's burning clothes.

Sheriff Tom Allman, Mendocino County, who helped to free the occupant of a wrecked vehicle from fire that was leaping about 20 feet into the air on Highway 101 in Redwood Valley.

Officer Kelley Merritt, Susanville Police Department, who helped to save a colleague wounded after a gunfight broke out in a suspected marijuana garden in a remote area of Lassen County.

San Mateo Police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli and Officers Rick Apecechea, Jeff Dellinges and Roberto Gonzalez, who responded to reports of shots fired at Hillsdale High School and helped subdue a male juvenile wearing a vest containing 10 live bombs.

Honorees were nominated by Brown from recommendations by a panel of law enforcement officials.

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