Fresno police recognize 60 of their own for heroic actions, achievement

Sixty members of Fresno Police Department were recognized for heroic actions and achievements on Wednesday during a ceremony at City Hall.

Sergeant Lennie Lujan, Officers Robert Valdes, Damon Edrozo, Christopher Tarpley, Ruben Barron and Felipe Uribe, and Detective Robert Yeager were awarded the Medal of Valor for their actions in a Sept. 3 incident in which two correctional officers were shot at the Fresno County Jail lobby.

Sergeants Rudy Tafoya and Brian Pierce, Detectives Jason Serrano, Josh Sharp and Robert Esquibel and Officer Gunter Meiss were awarded the Medal of Valor for their actions for an Oct. 19 incident in which a man shot his pregnant wife.

The Lifesaving with Valor Medal was awarded to Lt. Joey Alvarez, Cpl. Patricia Sellers-Anderson and Officers Vince Bantayan, Bernie Vizcarra and Darryll Van Deursen for rescuing a woman who was stabbed 13 times.

Lifesaving Medals for various incidents were awarded to Officers Jason Jones, Marc Anderson and John Pinedo, Sgts. Paul Preston, Michael Manfredi, Richard Escalante, Andy Mercado and Brendan Rhames, Van Deursen, Sgt. James Rossetti, Officers Keith Kobashi, Jesus Salinas and Nicolas Romero, Cpl. Patricia Sellers-Anderson, Officers Cha Thao, Julie Skamel, Manuel Amaya, Kaosoy Saechao, Nicholas Palomino, Martin Padilla, Paul Hill and David Farfan, Sgt. Adrian Alvarez, Officer Michael Diaz, retired Officer Daryl Nichols, Officer William Kahle, Cpls. Scott Reese and Steven Jacobson, and Officer Gilbert Quezada.

The Medal of Merit was awarded to Lt. David Newton and Construction Projects Hero to Officer Jason Musser.

Officers recognized for the Tremayne Beard arrest were Sgt. Justin Hoagland and Officers Mikal Clement and Sergio Gonzalez.

Those recognized for Operation Dog Trak, a operation that police said crippled the Dog Pound Gang in April 2016, were Capt. Mark Salazar, Lt. David Ramsey, Sgt. Andre Benson, and Detectives Ken Dodd, Jose Rivera and Conrado Martin.

Recognized for their work at the President Donald Trump rally in May 2016 at Selland Arena were Deputy Chief Andy Hall and Lt. Richard Tucker.

Outstanding Achievement Medals were awarded to Sgts. Rich Escalante, Walter Boston and Leslie Bragg and Detective Eden Cerda for their roles in Operation Slidelock, an anti-gang initiative in November 2016.

The Recovered Firearms Award was given to Officers Michael Pierce and Benito Soto for recovering 10 or more within a year; and the Latent Prints award to Cadet Christensen and Cadet Garcia.

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Fresno police recognize 60 of their own for heroic actions, achievement."