fire arm, and exited the passenger side of the vehicle, move to the sidewalk, and john for pedestrians to get off the street. in those put seconds, the victim fell to the ground and the suspect fired additional shots in a denver direction, executing him. sergeant gordon and lt. parra were now within 10 feet of an armed murderer. there were no vehicles behind which they could take cover. their field of fire was the backdrop of a busy irving street. it was packed with pedestrians, class storefronts, passing motorists, and an armed killer. these officers knew that they had to end the deadly threat posed by this man. yet, they knew any rounds fired on that street, whether by them or the suspect, who had the potential to kill or individual victims. they knew they had to draw the attention of this suspect and gain control of him to prevent

any further loss of life. sergeant gordon and lt. parra did not hesitate. they confronted the suspect, shouting out that they were the police and ordering him to drop his weapon. with nothing between them and this murder, they used their tactical expertise to triangulate on the suspect. they chose to close the distance between them. advancing on the murder in a purposeful manner. they knew every foot of sidewalk or st. they could close would reduce the number of pedestrians and civilians exposed. the suspect turned toward them with gun in hand. lt. parra and sergeant gordon were no more than 5 feet from the man. both had that split-second to realize that they were on the brink of using deadly force with all of its consequences. once again, the officers ordered the suspect to drop his gun.

staring down officers, the suspect raised the gun and then tossed it to the ground. lt. parra and sergeant gordon maintained control of the scene. they directed the subjects -- suspect to the ground and directed him away from the gun, handcuffing him. they also rendered aid to the victim in an attempt to save his life. they turned their attention to isolating other potential suspects. they directed the arriving units to secure the suspect, perimeter, murder weapon, to locate witnesses, they ran a textbook investigation and follow-up. we are tremendously fortunate that these two officers were on that street that night. their outstanding bravery and ability to respond without hesitation, there's protection decision making to assess, tactically respond to, and

control the immediate deadly threat, their willingness to put their lives at risk, knowing it was necessary to save the lives of others, their control and disciplined response initially and managing the resulting homicide scene, for these actions, the arabs each being awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause] >> commissioner dejesus wanted

to say a few words. >> i also want to thank all of the awardees tonight. i also want to acknowledge our officers give time, energy, and oftentimes money in the community they live in, as well as to the children in those communities. lt. henry parr is the coordinator of the housing authority but is also active in the operation dream, which gives toys to children in the housing -- over $25,000. they will start distributing those toys december 20 through december 23. we are going to post and on the website. i just wanted knowledge, in doing your everyday work, they give so much time to our

community, and this is a wonderful thing to do to give toys to the children of those in the housing authority. thank you. [applause]

>> now we will have the medal of valor presentation for sgt timothy paine, sergeant james o'malley, sgt gregory kane, officer william eleiff, and officer steven stearns. [applause]

>> on may 5, 2004, a round in o'clock p.m., there was an attempted kidnapping of strangers of a woman and her son. the suspect proceeded in a chevy trailblazer and used a large caliber gun and fled westbound on any street. the suspect's description was broadcast five minutes later at 8:05. two minutes after that, officer eleiff saw the suspect vehicle and paged and began following it. as he broadcast, holding a court microphone, his location, the vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed. opposite the live activated his lights and sirens and pursue the vehicle. the suspect drove west on haight

and then northwest on the visitor. the suspect drove northbound in the southbound lanes of the visitor. of azeri live broadcast a license plate as the suspect turned west on hayes. the suspect drove north on broadway and fired one shot at officer eleiff. , -- stearns, and kane. those shots can be heard of the recording of the night. the suspect headed north and again leaned out the window to fire at the pursuing officers. the suspect then turned eastbound on to turkey into oncoming one way traffic. officers paine and o'malley saw

the vehicle traveling up a high rate of speed on to oncoming traffic. officer pain is a specialist. they are more heavily trained in these types of situations. knowing the information, he attempted to halt the suspect by firing at the suspect. the round, but officers hearing the shot at the suspect had fired at them. officers o'malley and paine, knowing that officer eleiff was a single unit, decided to pursue the suspect. the suspect continued into oncoming traffic until he turned north on webster and the east oneddy, sot on buchanan. during this pursuit, officer you lift prop broadcast the suspects route while driving, holding the microphone in one hand.

once in large rally, the suspect drove along the block calling for residents of the housing project to come out and stop his car. officers paid and o'malley not arrived at the other end of the alley. officer of valley got out of his car and ran down the building line toward the vehicle. the vehicle started again. fear of the suspect might get into another altercation with civilians, as this was mayor of the scene of the initial incident, or leave the alley to in danger citizens and officers, officer of valley stopped -- officer o'malley shot one shot. the suspect fired a round at them through his back window. officers came, stern, and the live, returned fire without hitting the suspect. the officers continued their verbal commands to the suspect to put up his hands and leave the vehicles. the suspect got out of the driver's door, raised his hands,

took off his shirt doing a full circle. the suspect then dropped his hands to his waist and took a few steps toward the officers who did not fire at these provoking actions. the suspect then returned to his car and sat on the running board. officers kept up a stream of commands for the suspect to surrender which he ignored. officer pain move down the alley toward the alley, warning people to get out of the street. sgt. paine had arrived at a position parallel to that of the subject -- suspect. the suspect turned in the car and appeared to be getting something. he turned back toward the officers who again held their fire. the suspect turned back toward the inside of the vehicle, appeared to shield his movement. officer -- sgt. kane saw the suspect reached under his driver seat. the suspect then spun around toward the officers. sgt. paine, believing the

suspect would again opened fire, fire three shots. the suspect fell to the ground. officers called for an ambulance and administered first aid. the suspect was pronounced dead at the same. the suspect's gun was recovered in the driver's door. the suspect was initially wanted for attempted to kidnap a stranger and alison son using a gun. this heinous crime testify the pursuit of the subject. the suspect's crimes showed a gravest threat to public safety. the suspect then fired repeatedly at officers. each of these officers had time to make a decision to put their lives at risk for the public safety. each of these officers could have made decisions to not join in on the efforts or to abandon their attempts to take the

dangers of its critics suspect into -- custody. officer eleiff could have backed off the chase as a 1 person unit. officer stearns and sgt. kane could have done nothing. officer came and started o'malley also could have decided not to. each of these officers showed restraint in not firing their weapons where a suspect provocative action would normally end in shooting. these officers were awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause]

>> a sgt. paine, who could not be here tonight, was also awarded the gold medal of valor.

>> it is with great pride that we honor these individuals for their valor.

every day, officers put their lives at risk and do very good police work and we do not do enough to thank them for that. i am brought to be part of a ceremony where we can point to these heroes and thank them publicly, the way that we should do so every day publicly. so thank you again. [applause] the police commission and the park would would also like to think the diversity of california's san francisco for its generous support in co- sponsored tonight's event. we would like to single out the community relations office and

the conference center office for putting tonight's ceremony and their generous support. i also want to thank ms. tom. she is the one that put the packs together and organized the event. she did a lot of work and happy that she could be here tonight. this concludes our ceremony. there will be refreshments out in front. there is a photographer. you want to take pictures. i am going to go outside and shake the hands of some heroes and thank them. i hope that you will do the same. thank you for coming again.

tape 55 >> welcome, this is carl. >> great to meet you. >> great to me you, and i want to thank you for your interest and this is the city's animal shelter. and come in and a lot of people come here to adopt a animal or if they have lost their animal or looking for other animals. and we deal with other animals like birds and rabbits and you name it. this is more to see in this facility and more to see in the community. and i suggest you go with an animal control person and see what they co, whether rescuing animals in distress or hit by a

car or dealing with aggressive animals or wildlife or a variety of things. you can only get that flavor with them and doing it first hand. >> i have been with animal control for about six years, i spent a year in the kennel and then the office came up and i started doing it and it really fit. it's really the job for me. and animals i have to handle and i know what i am doing, i rarely get scared. [whistle]. we do a lot of investigations and most are not as bad as people report but everyone once in a while they are. and i had one and people had moved out and the dog was in the

inside and it makes me teary and when the dog is in the backyard, and i can pull an animal out of a horrible environment and feel good. >> where does this animal go after this? >> they go for the shots and then the kennel. >> and if they just found this, and once we enter everything in the computer and they can track to find out if the dog went back home. we hold them for five days. >> this is a stray dog and it came in today and we immobilize it and then put it in a room with food and water. >> and then evaluate for medical behavior and see if

anyone is interested in adopting then. >> we want to be sure that their behavior is good for the average adopter and not aggression problem, toward people or animals. >> and if they growl and don't bite the hand, she passes that. and good girl, in case she has something in her mouth, we get it out. and one more test, called the startle test and it startled hear but she came to me. and passed the handling test. >> for the mental exam i feel for lumps and bumps. and the ears and see if they

are infected and look at the eyes and be sure they are clear and don't have cataracts and look at their teeth and heart. this is the first job that i feel i make a dvrngs. -- difference. and we may do 40 to 80 animals a day for treatments. and do blood work and skin scrapings and cultures to diagnose different diseases. and x-rays, i can take an animal that would be euthanized at a different shelter and fix it and get it ready for a home. >> we have a partnership and we let a professional groomer run a private business from our facility and in turn grooms our shelter animals. what is the big deal of that?

when someone comes to adopt an animal, if it looks good, chances are it will be adopted more. >> and we groom and clean the ears and the works. >> typically a shelter wouldn't have grooming? >> not at all. and these dogs are treated with the utmot -- utmost care that others can't provide. this is a shampoo to bring out the luster. and i feel satisfied in helping the shelter pets be adopted and to be a part of such a wonderful staff, from the top all the way down. if she passes our evaluation, she will stay until she's adopted. if you are interested in adoption and don't want to put

them to sleep, that means at a last resort, we will give you a call before putting to sleep. you are not bound to the dog, and we would give you a call, and it's an actual adoption and cost $107 and it will be your dog. >> the volunteers to meet are the unsung heroes in this field that take the animals to hope and nurse them to get strong enough to come down and rehome. without volunteers, i would have to be honest to say this wouldn't be much more than a pound. we thank god that we have the number of committed people coming down and helping us out, it makes all the difference in the world. >> when you want to come in and

volunteer, you go through a general orientation, about two hours. there is a lot of flexibility. and the various programs available, are baseline dog walking. you can work with the cats. you can work with tony's kitty rescue, with the small animals and guinea pigs and birds and chickens. >> you always have an appreciative audience. >> do you feel that what you have learned here helped you with your own dogs? >> the training they don't have? yes. and it's things that you learn, we usually outlive our dogs and every time you get a new one, you have skills to teach them. >> one of the programs is training program and it's

staffed by a member of the community and one of the programs she has is dog socialization. >> we started this program for canine socialization. and all the dogs available for adoption get to play for two hours. and it's a time for them to get incredible exercise and play with other dogs and we have remedial socialization. and it's incredible the dogs and they get exercise and run and tumble and when most adopters come to look in the afternoon, they are quiet and settled. >> and i want come and someone sees a dog and loves it, it's quick. and after three weekends, i saw

him and he connected and i connected and came back. >> what is your experience of working with the animals? >> unbelievable. from the guy that is came to the house and everyone here, they are friendly and knowledge believe and -- knowledgeable and they care about the animals. >> and it's a great place to visit and look at the animals and maybe fall in love and take one home. and look at our grooming program and volunteer program and many say, hey, this