Los Angeles and San Diego Officers Recognized for Heroism and Bravery
During National Police Week, the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) held its 31st annual Top Cops Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 12, honoring 46 officers from across the country for extraordinary actions in the line of duty.
Each year, members of federal, state, county, tribal and local agencies nationwide nominate their partners and colleagues for going above and beyond the call of duty during incidents in the preceding year. From the hundreds of nominations, an independent committee of national law enforcement representatives selects the finalists. The top 10 of those cases are named Top Cops Awards winners.
California was well represented at this year’s ceremony, with 16 officers from the Los Angeles and San Diego police departments taking home awards for their valor and selfless acts of courage. PORAC is proud to recognize these officers’ achievements and highlight their winning cases here. We thank them all for putting themselves in harm’s way to protect their communities.
Los Angeles: Teamwork Under Fire
On March 8, 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department received a tip that Jonathan Magana, a felony warrant suspect wanted for extortion, was in hiding in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The K-9 Unit located Magana inside a detached garage of a residence and attempted to make contact, but Magana ignored them.
As day became night, officers were given permission by their incident commander to introduce OC vapor to force Magana out of the garage. Officer Steven Wills acted as a cover officer for Officer Daniel Cota, who deployed the OC canisters through an opening in an interior wall where the officers could see Magana, who attempted to escape but was unsuccessful. Officers advised Magana to surrender, but their words continued to fall on deaf ears.
Magana suddenly appeared at the opening of the interior wall and opened fire at officers from point-blank range with two handguns. Officers Wills, Alan Ramirez and Adrian Bonilla were each struck by gunfire. The officers returned fire, joined by Officers Steven Jenkins, Christopher Jones and Ruben Chavez, while taking cover and evacuating the garage area. Magana was struck multiple times in the barrage of bullets.
With Magana down, Officers Maricela Corral, Hans Almaraz and Thomas Onyshko provided immediate medical attention to the three injured officers, moving them out of the line of fire and getting them prepped to be transported to a nearby trauma center. In the end, Magana succumbed to his wounds, while the three LAPD officers made a full recovery.
San Diego: A Miraculous Recovery
On the evening of December 7, 2023, San Diego Police Sergeant Anthony Elliott and Officers Tanarat Crowe, Samuel Hernandez, Alicia Steidley, Darrion Talalele and Trevor Wright responded to a report of a stolen vehicle. The suspect, Curtis Harris, was known to the officers from a prior domestic violence incident that had occurred earlier in the week.
After nearly two hours of searching for Harris, the officers located the stolen vehicle in a large supermarket parking lot with a female passenger inside, but no Harris. The female passenger told officers that Harris was inside the supermarket. Steidley, Crowe and Hernandez went inside, while Elliott, Wright and Talalele remained outside.
As Steidley, Crowe and Hernandez went up and down the supermarket aisles searching for Harris, he realized he was being pursued and ran out of the store. Elliott, Wright and Talalele quickly gave chase and closed in on him.
As Harris fled on foot toward a row of shopping carts, Elliott was just a couple of feet behind. Harris jumped over a wall surrounding the shopping carts, pulled out a handgun from his waistband and fired at Elliott, striking him in the head and bringing him down. Harris then opened fire on Wright, Crowe, Hernandez and Talalele, but missed. The officers returned fire and fatally shot Harris.
After accounting for each officer, the team realized that Elliott was not present. Steidley and Talalele leapt into action and located Elliott, dragging him to cover and performing emergency first aid until the ambulance arrived to transport him to the hospital. Elliott miraculously survived and recovered from his injury.