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WELCOME H E R OE S
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Welcome to The Los Angeles Police Protective League’s 2018 Eagle and Badge Gala benefiting the Eagle and Badge Foundation and supporting Los Angeles police officers, their families and children in the communities they serve. The Los Angeles Police Protective League salutes all of tonight’s honorees.
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EAGLE & BADGE BOARD
AARON STRAUSSNER Esq., Chairman
STEVE GORDON
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JAMIE MCBRIDE
ROBERT HARRIS
PETER REPOVICH
CRAIG LALLY
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
JERRETTA SANDOZ
ARTHUR M. KASSEL
MARC ROJAS
ERIKA GOUDY Executive Director
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LOS ANGELES POLICE PROTECTIVE LEAGUE BOARD
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CRAIG LALLY President
JERRETTA SANDOZ
ROBERT HARRIS
HANNU “TJ” TARJAMO
MARK CRONIN
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Director
STEVE GORDON
CORINA LEE
JAMIE MCBRIDE
LOU TURRIAGA
Director
Director
Director
Director
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PROGRAM Heroes of the Night
Masters of ceremonies
Rachel Kim & Jamie McBride
Los Angeles Police Pipes & Drums
Cliff Armas
Posting of the LAPD Colors
LAPD Honor Guard
National Anthem
Rosalind Curry
Welcome
Eagle & Badge President Jamie McBride
Invocation
Chaplain: Father Michael McCullough
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Dinner
Dinner Performance
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Acknowledgements
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2018 Medal of Valor Recipients Sponsors
Awards
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Captains Volunteer of the Year Eagle and Badge Distinguished Service
Performance
Angel City Chorale
Closing
*Order subject to change
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RACHEL KIM M AS T ER
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Rachel Kim joined CBS2 and KCAL9 as a general assignment reporter in March 2009. An L.A. native, Rachel returned home after working for WSB-TV in Atlanta as a reporter, bureau chief and fill-in anchor for three years. Prior to Atlanta, Rachel worked in Oklahoma City at KOCO-TV and began her career at KAMRTV/KCIT-TV as a weekend anchor and reporter in Amarillo, Texas. Throughout her career, Rachel has been recognized for her reporting and community service. She is especially proud of receiving a Golden Mike Award for Best TV News Reporting in 2013 while at CBS2/KCAL9. Rachel earned her master’s degree in broadcast journalism and bachelor’s degrees in communication and English from the University of Southern California. She is a proud Trojan … Fight On!
When Rachel is not covering the news, she enjoys traveling, exploring the Southland’s newest restaurants, playing piano and spending time with her family and friends. She is fluent in Korean and is working on her Spanish! After losing her mother to pancreatic cancer and her father to glioblastoma, Rachel is passionate about raising awareness and research funding for these two cancers.
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AWARD PRESENTERS
CHIEF MICHEL MOORE
BRUCE WILLIS
TITUS WELLIVER
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ENTERTAINMENT P E R FOR M ANC E S
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BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY
ANGEL C I T Y CHORAL E AM ERIC A’S GOT TALENT G OL DEN BUZ Z ER PERFORMANC E
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Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums
The Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums is an Irish Pipe Band. The Band consists of members who are active, former or retired law enforcement officers from law enforcement agencies throughout the Southern California area. Individuals with no prior law enforcement background are also a vital part of the Band. The Band respectfully plays at services, memorials, and tributes for police officers, firefighters and military personnel who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The Band supports law enforcement, firefighters and the military by playing at any event that will serve the respective agency or organization. The Band is a nonprofit organization, and all Band members volunteer their time.
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LAPD HONOR GUARD
The Los Angeles Police Department Honor Guard participates in well over 100 details each year. They are proud to present the colors at Department and city functions and it is an honor to conduct funeral ceremonies for their lost heroes.
ROSALIND CURRY
Singing the National Anthem
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CAPTAINS AWARD
Leadership, wellness, integrity, trust, communication and responsiveness—these were a few of the categories highlighted in the LAPPL command staff survey sent out to the entire membership of lieutenants, sergeants, detectives and officers. The following were rated top three by the membership in their roles as LAPD captains. The goal of the LAPPL command staff survey was to gain insight into the effectiveness of the Department’s current leaders and to do so from the perspective of the rank and file. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
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CAPTAIN PETER CASEY “A true leader.”
CAPTAIN PAUL ESPINOZA “Leads by example! If he asks his personnel to do something, even manual labor, he will be right there beside you.”
CAPTAIN PATRICIA SANDOVAL “Her great strength is her ability to communicate with employees and understand the difficult job we have.”
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MARLENA WILLIS VOL U NT EER
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The Volunteer of the Year award is given to a community member who dedicates their personal time and effort for the betterment of the Department, its members and the community.
Marlena Willis was born in Kassel, Germany, in 1935. In 1954, she met and married a young American Army Officer named David who was stationed in Germany after the war. They moved to New Jersey and started a family. Marlena has four children: Bruce, Flo, Robert and David; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. When her children were old enough, she got a job at the Bank of Delaware as a teller and retired as the branch manager. In 1986, her son Bruce suggested Marlena move to California—not to star an any movies, but to enjoy the weather. She moved to Sherman Oaks and got a job at Wells Fargo but retired so she could volunteer at Cedars-Sinai in the Emergency Room. She volunteered at Cedars-Sinai for 13 years until one day, her friend and neighbor lost her husband. The neighbor asked Marlena if she could help dispose of her husband’s gun collection. Marlena agreed, and they drove to West Los Angeles Police Station. An officer at the front desk directed them upstairs to the Detective Unit, however, there was no one there to assist them. Marlena rang the bell and a handsome, tall detective named McQueen came out to help them. Marlena asked him if he had any relation to Steve, but he didn’t get the joke. Marlena asked him if anyone worked up here and he replied, “No,” and then he asked Marlena if she wanted the job. Marlena got hired on as a volunteer civilian and has been working at West Los Angeles Police Station for the past nine years. Marlena said she used to think working in the Emergency Room was exciting, but that it pales in comparison to West L.A.’s front desk. “I don’t mean to quote Pawn Stars,” she said, “but you really never know what’s gonna come through that door.” Marlena says working for the LAPD has been one of the highlights of her life, and that everyone has been wonderful, helpful and kind. Her goal is to work there for another nine years.
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JEREMY RATCHFORD E AGL E
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The Eagle and Badge Award is given to an individual who has a positive impact on law enforcement. Jeremy Ratchford can currently be seen alongside John Hawkes, Octavia Spencer and Anthony Anderson in the critically acclaimed feature Small Town Crime. Ratchford plays a demented hit man in the film that has been deemed a must-see in 2018. Best known for his seven seasons on the hit CBS series Cold Case, Ratchford portrayed the role of Nick Vera, a salty veteran Philadelphia police detective working for the department’s homicide squad. Ratchford’s extensive film resume includes a role in Universal’s film Leatherheads opposite George Clooney and John Krasinski. Starring roles in films include The Barber with Malcolm MacDowel, Angel Eyes with Jennifer Lopez, Fly Away Home with Jeff Daniels and Anna Pacquin, and Moonshine Highway with Kyle MacLachlan and Randy Quaid. He has also appeared in The Crew with Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds, The Sports Pages with Eugene Levy as well as two Clint Eastwood films: The Unforgiven and Jersey Boys. In 1996 Ratchford earned his first Gemini nomination for “Best Actor” in the television movie Small Gifts. He then went on to receive two more Gemini nominations for his portrayal of Jack Pogue in the Canadian-based television series Blue Murder. Recent television work includes NBC’s Taken and Chicago P.D., CBS’s Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders and NCIS: New Orleans as well as Comedy Central’s Workaholics. A native of Kitchener, Ontario, Ratchford now makes his home in Los Angeles.
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DISTINGUISHED SERVICE A W A R D
LIEUTENANT KEVIN BRAWNER
OFFICER MITCHELL TOSTI
Route 91 Harvest Festival October 1, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada
On Sunday, October 1, 2017, off-duty LAPD Officer Mitchell Tosti, his fiancée and a few of their friends were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. While standing near center stage listening to a country artist perform, they heard shots being fired from an unknown location. The music stopped, and the crowd went into a frenzy, with those present running and taking cover. During the chaos, Tosti and his fiancée got separated from their friends. In between the volley of gunfire, Tosti grabbed his fiancée and began running to the exit. Once outside the gate, they encountered a man who had been shot in the arm. Simultaneously, a car pulled up with the driver telling people to get in. Tosti pushed the wounded victim in the car and instructed the driver to take him to the hospital. At this point, Officer Tosti discovered that the gunfire was coming from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. As he and his fiancée started making their way toward the Tropicana Hotel, they utilized vehicles for cover. During this time, they encountered a mother and her daughter who were struggling to escape the continuing barrage of gunfire. Tosti pulled the mother and daughter, as well as his fiancée, down behind a car to avoid being struck by the hundreds of rounds being fired. When there was a lull in the gunfire, Tosti carried the daughter from cover to cover, instructing his fiancée and the mother to follow. As they made their way toward safety, they came across another off-duty officer who advised that he would help carry the girl to his nearby vehicle. Tosti later learned that the daughter was a cancer patient in a weakened condition because of her ongoing treatment and was unable to self-evacuate. Officer Tosti and his fiancée then began to look for their friends, at which point they came across a female suffering from a gunshot to her leg. Recognizing she needed immediate assistance, they took her to the nearby MGM Grand, where she was able to get help for her injury. Simultaneously, off-duty LAPD Lt. Kevin Brawner, who was also attending the event with his wife, jumped into action. When the suspect began shooting at the large crowd, Brawner observed several victims with varying degrees of injury throughout the venue. The initial stages of the shooting created panic, and those in the crowd were unsure what their best course of action should be. Realizing the dire and immediate need to get help for those injured, Brawner instructed other able-bodied persons to assist him with carrying victims toward the Reno Avenue exit, where he set up a triage for the victims. Brawner, along with other unidentified persons, made numerous trips back into the venue during the shooting in search of additional victims. Upon locating these victims, Brawner and the others carried them out of the line of fire and over to the triage area for much-needed medical assistance. It is clear that without the selfless actions of Lt. Brawner, many of these gunshot victims would not have survived. This incident was the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in our nation’s history. In the aftermath of this tragedy, 58 people lost their lives and 851 others were injured, with 422 of those injuries attributable to gunfire. Without the brave actions of these two officers, those numbers would likely have been higher. Officer Tosti and Lieutenant Brawner have proven to be ambassadors of the Department and epitomize the very best in what we have come to expect of our officers. The actions of both men prove them to be worthy recipients of the Distinguished Service Award, which we present to them with much pride and sincere gratitude.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE A W A R D
OFFICER PATRICK RUDDELL
Central Division April 7, 2017
On April 7, 2017, at approximately 1200 hours, Officers Patrick Ruddell and his partner were working uniformed patrol, driving a marked black and white police vehicle. They were assigned to Central Division Patrol in the area of skid row. The officers heard a radio call regarding an ambulance stabbing at 7th Street and San Julian. A Central unit responded, located a stabbing victim, and broadcast the suspect’s description. Ruddell and his partner responded to the nearby area in an attempt to locate the suspect. A nearby Hollenbeck Narcotic unit broadcast that they had located a possible suspect. Officers Ruddell and his and his partner were directed by the Hollenbeck Unit to the suspect, who was about a half block away. As they approached the suspect, later identified as Abram Perkins, he began wildly slashing another victim. Both Perkins and his newest victim disappeared from the officers’ view behind a parked car. The officers exited their vehicle and observed Perkins actively stabbing his second victim. The officers ordered Perkins to drop his knife, but he did not comply and continued stabbing the victim, who was seriously injured. Officer Ruddell fired his service weapon at Perkins to stop the attack, striking the Perkins several times, thus saving the man’s life. There were several radio calls regarding victims getting slashed, with the victim described in this incident was later determined to be the third victim in Perkins’ attacks. All three stabbing victims sustained critical injuries inflicted by Perkins but did survive. Perkins sustained gunshot wounds to his right and left arms and torso. He was booked for three counts of Attempted Murder. Witnesses nearby stated that Officer Ruddell undoubtedly saved the victim’s life. His quick response to the life-threatening actions of Perkins not only saved this victim but likely stopped what can only be described as a murderous spree being undertaken by Perkins. Officer Ruddell’s actions are a credit to the Department and we are proud to honor him with the Distinguished Service Award.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE A W A R D
OFFICER JOSEPH DOMINGUEZ
OFFICER DAVID KEORTGE
DETECTIVE BOB KRAUS
DETECTIVE VICTOR ROSS
SIS/SWAT Incident City of Hawthorne June 29, 2017 Operations South Bureau (OSB) Homicide was investigating the March 3, 2017, murder of Whitney Yorke that occurred in Jefferson Park. Yorke was a Rollin 30s Harlem Crip gang member who was shot and killed by a member of a rival gang. The shooter was one of four Fruit Town Brim gang members who committed the murder in retaliation as part of an ongoing feud between the two gangs. Through their investigation, South Bureau detectives identified the four suspects who participated in the murder. The OSB Homicide investigators ultimately obtained search and arrest warrants for each of the suspects and their respective residences. They coordinated an early morning operation in which each of the suspects would be simultaneously arrested, and the search warrants executed at each residence. Robbery-Homicide Division, Special Investigation Section (SIS), was tasked with the arrest of the shooter, Qasim Knox. Knox had a reputation for being an enforcer/shooter within his gang. He was also known to be very active on social media, frequently posting photographs of himself with numerous handguns and assault-style weapons. On June 29, 2017, at approximately 0920 hours, SIS personnel were conducting surveillance in the area of 117th Street and Avalon Boulevard when they observed Knox driving a blue Nissan Rogue. The SIS operators immediately recognized that Knox’s erratic and dangerous driving would likely compromise the surveillance and determined it was necessary for the uniformed SWAT component to initiate a felony traffic stop. As a result, Knox fled, thus causing the two SWAT vehicles (four officers) to initiate a pursuit. Knox continued driving in a dangerous and overly aggressive manner in an attempt to flee from the pursuing officers. He took them on a high-speed pursuit through Southeast Area, the City of Gardena and ultimately, into the City of Hawthorne. SIS Detectives, along with personnel from Air Support Division, the Hawthorne Police Department and the El Segundo Police Department, responded to provide assistance. Knox exited his vehicle and fled on foot on El Segundo Boulevard, directly across the street from the luxury gated “360” condominium complex. He was armed with two handguns as he ran southbound to the large cement wall that borders the residential complex. He threw both firearms over the wall before climbing over the wall himself, seeking refuge in the private community. LAPD SWAT Officers David Keortge and Joseph Dominguez drove their vehicle up to the security gate then entered the complex on foot. Knox observed the officers and fired numerous rounds from his semi-automatic handgun at Keortge and Dominguez, who returned fire, resulting in the first OIS. During this exchange, Officer Keortge sustained a gunshot wound to his midsection. Officer Dominguez immediately stepped in front of his downed partner, creating a shield, as he continued to engage Knox in the firefight. Knox fled further into the complex. Meanwhile, personnel from LAPD K-9 arrived and extracted Keortge to a safe location. Immediately after this OIS, Knox fled westbound, away from the SWAT officers he had just tried to kill. Moments later, the LAPD airship was conducting a low and tight orbit directly above Knox in an attempt to assist responding officers locate and deploy on Knox. Knox then pointed his handgun at the airship and shot at the helicopter several times. Knox then moved to the corner of Mission and Strand Avenue where he observed three Hawthorne police officers inside the complex, as they responded to the help call put out by the airship. Knox shot at the officers; however, there were no known hits. SIS Detective Victor Ross observed Knox shooting at the Hawthorne officers and subsequently engaged him with his rifle from a distance of just under 100 yards. Simultaneously, SIS Detective Bob Kraus observed Knox shooting in the direction of the responding officers, and subsequently also engaged Knox with his rifle from a distance of approximately 50 yards. Knox turned and ran approximately 10–15 yards before collapsing from his gunshot injuries. He was then taken into custody by SIS personnel without further incident. Knox had been livestreaming the end of the OIS live on social media before being with his cellphone camera before being incapacitated, stating he knew he was going to die. Officer Keortge made a full recovery and has returned to full duty. Qasim Knox survived his injuries and was charged with 19 felony counts related to this incident, including multiple counts of attempted murder or assault on a police officer, in addition to the murder count in the Yorke case. Officer Dominguez is commended for his selfless actions in engaging the suspect and shielding his downed partner from further injury. Detectives Ross and Kraus are commended for their dedication, proficiency and ability to maintain their presence of mind in a chaotic and dynamic situation. These officers deserve our utmost thanks, and their exemplary actions make them deserving recipients of the Distinguished Service Award.
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Congratulations to the Eagle & Badge Honorees Thank you for your contributions and dedication to the citizens of Los Angeles!
(818) 788-1700
Making a false or fraudulent workers’ compensation claim is a felony subject to up to five years in prison or a fine up to $50,000 or double the value of the fraud, whichever is greater, or both imprisonment and fine
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Eagle and Badge expresses its appreciation to the Los Angeles Police Federal Credit Union for providing the wine at tonight’s event.
Don and Susan Schwarz The Eagle and Badge Foundation appreciates your generosity by sponsoring The Angel City Chorale performance.
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Saggau & DeRollo, LLC Congratulations to all the award recipients!
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AD SPACE Jacob Rhoads and TBL Systems, Inc. Supports The Men and Women of Los Angeles Police Department and the 2018 Eagle & Badge Gala
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The Law Offices of Gregory W. Smith Honors all award recipients and proudly supports the Eagle and Badge Foundation!
Koos Manufacturing, Inc. Thanks to the brave men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.
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Makarem and Associates Supports the Eagle and Badge Foundation. Congratulations to all of tonight’s award recipients!
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PRESIDENT TH AN K
YOU
The Eagle & Badge Foundation raises funds through fundraising events and a membership program. Membership options include annual, lifetime and corporate. Our membership is comprised of individuals from virtually every profession and business throughout the state. Please join the Eagle & Badge Foundation today! Help the families of our men and women in blue and the children in the community served by the LAPD.
WEBSITE Eagle & Badge eagleandbadgefoundation.com LAPPL www.lapd.com
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SPECIAL APP R E C IATION
ARAMARK BARBARA HOLLANDER & ASSOCIATES DESMOND WARREN- DSR AUDIO, LLC DON & SUSAN SCHWARZ LEWIS, MARENSTEIN, WICKE, SHERWIN & LEE, LLP LOS ANGELES POLICE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION MCNICHOLAS & MCNICHOLAS SAGGAU & DEROLLO, LLC STANLEY GONZALES- BEANS & CHEESE MEDIA PRODUCTION SERVICES STRAUSSNER SHERMAN TBL SYSTEMS, INC VELVET EVENTS
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