ochoa. >> and next, captain gironi again for the commander of mission station, please come up. >> good evening again. try using my glasses this time, too. on april 16, 2017, at approximately 1100 hours, officer tracey turner and her partner, officer r -- ronna

kuchak received a call about a possible suicidal suspect. two other offered arrived, and they responded to apartment number 9. they made contact with the suicidal male in the narrow hallway just outside the apartment on the third floor of the building. the hallway was boarded up by a wall on one side, and a wooden banner on the other side, so it's such a small stairway. the suspect was immediately verbally confrontational to the officers as they attempted to speak to him. he began to leave and was told by officer turner that he could not do so. he then reached his right hand behind his back. officer turner, fearing that the

subject was reaching for a weapon in his rear waistband, immediately grabbed the suspect kazz hand. the suspect immediately pushed away from turner's grasp and postured aggressively, ready to fight. officer turner told the subject to place his hands behind his back so he could be handcuffed. he told the -- the suspect told them, don't touch me. leave me alone. the suspect told he was going to be handcuffed and told if he was going to get touched, there was going to be a fight, and he was going to get hit. officer kuchak and turner tried to arrest him, and he immediate turned around and tried to get out of their grasp. officer kuchak tried to perform a bar arm takedown which caused

the officers to fall to the floor. officer kuchak ended up behind the subject, who was on top of the -- on top of officer turner. officer laokwansathitaya landed behind the officer on the right side. she struck the suspect multiple times with hierfists and elbows in order to gain control over him. officers kuchak, turner, and laokwansathitaya then released that the suspect had his right-hand side around officer turner's threat and was rendering her unconscious. the suspect was suspect in the head with closed fists, and the blows had no effect. kuchak grabbed one of the fists and was able to successfully pry it off of turner's threat.

officer laokwansathitaya punched the subject in the head and face multiple times to force him to get off of officer turner's neck. he still had a grasp on officer turner's neck. the suspect released his grip on officer turner, and officer kuchak used his forearm to pull the subject by the neck away from officer turner. officer turner regained consciousness, drew her department issued o.c., and pepper sprayed the subject in the face, however, it seemed to have little to no effect on him. officer gaston was also sprayed by the o.c. but continued to help try to contain the subject. officer gaston held onto the suspect's legs, stopping him from falling 15 to 20 feet to

the first floor below. the struggle continued, the suspect fell backward on top of officer kuchak, landing with his head against officer kuchak's stomach. as he had the subject pinned against him, he felt the subject pulling on his holster. officer kuchak believed the subject was attempting to unholster the weapon to use it against himself and others. officer kuchak hit the subject in the head and shoulder area with a closed fist, causing him to let go of the firearm. officer laokwansathitaya tried to pull the subject's arm behind his back but was unable to do so. officer wheeler had responded to the call for assist, deployed his department issued baton, delivered multiple baton strikes to the suspect's neck and shoulder in order to make him

let go. the officers were able to gain control of the subject and were eventually able to handcuff him. the bravery and the efforts, even at the point where one was rendered unconscious and they continued the fight to apprehension an individual that wanted to hurt himself and at the same, hurt the officers, officer tracey turner, rhonda kuchak, carolyn gaston, kwanje laokwansathitaya have been awarded the silver medal of valor. officer tracey turner have been also given the purple heart award. i commend all of these officers and are very proud to serve with

them. [applause] >> next, captain joe mcfadden, the prior commanding officer of ingleside station and sergeant

dominguez, officer chew, and trail. [applause] >> my absolute pleasure to present this to these fine officers. i do want to thank the person that wrote up this gold medal of valor, sergeant lloyd martin. and before i could even ask him. he had it write and on my desk, so lloyd, thank you. [applause] >> this incident occurred right in this district a few blocks away, and everyone knows about it. on friday, october 14, 2016, officer dominguez, now sergeant

dominguez, nate chew, and james trail were partners assigned to the ingleside housing team. at approximately 2015 hours, the three officers returned to the ingleside police station to end their tour of duty. as they were in the locker room, getting ready to go home, they heard a gut wrenching emergency communication on their radios of shots fired. several police officers subsequently trns mied that police officer kevin downs had been shot and severely wounded by a suspect who was at large and unconfined. as a result, the officered responded to the scene, and a broadcast 406, officer needs emergency help. it's the most danger call any officer goes to. without any hesitancy, chew,

dominguez, grabbed their vests. as the three officers arrived at the super hectic scene, the perimeter around the grove was setup to contain an arrest of the suspect. officer trail was driving and parked his marked sfpd vehicle on 28 avenue just south of vicente street and subsequently informed dispatch of their location. due to the fact that it was dark with zero or no lighting, officer trail drove to an incline area near the baseball field adjacent to 28th area and vicente and illuminated the playground on the south side. it certainly helped officer trail, having grownup in the city and gone to high school, was very tfamiliar with stern grove. moments there after, sergeant

chew, dominguez and trail heard the suspect was last seen running through back yards. officers chew and dominguez were approximately 15 feet apart and were looking down the hill. they subsequently saw the suspect running in their direction and pointing a firearm directly at them. officer chew and dominguez confronted the suspect and ordered him to drop the firearm. the suspect then proceeded to shoot at officer dominguez. fearing for their safety and the safety of his colleagues, trail, jimmy trail, ran toward the gunfire. it's a very exceptional point. you know, in this time this week with all the smoke, people worried about having the right mask on, he's running toward

gunfire, and bullets are zipping by his head. he still ran toward his partners. officer chew dove from the line of fire and into some vegetation that was there. officer dominguez returned fire to the suspect, and officer chew got up from jumping in the vegetation to assist his partner and triangulated his position. the suspect refused the commands of both dominguez and chew to drop the firearm, and without any second thought, pointed the weapon at officer chew. officer chew pointed his firearm at the suspect and fired, incapacitating him. officers chew, dominguez and trail, selfishly attempted to contact and arrest an extreme violent suspect who had no

regard for life. they were ultimately placed in approximate a life and death situation. these three officers, facing this life threatening and life altering situation, did so freely while sacrificing their own safety to contact and arrest a homicidal suspect who had critically shot officer kevin downs. i just want to say you guys are more than co-workers, fellow officers, you're my brothers, and i love you. because of their brave actions, sergeant paul dominguez, nate chew -- officer nate chew, and officer jimmy trail have earned the highest honor we can give, the gold medal of valor.

[applause] >> next, commander gregory yee, the commander of the airport bureau, and can officer serrano please come up.

[applause] >> good evening. i'm honored and humbled to share with you tonight the heroic and self-less actions of officer renationr re -- reynaldo serrano who issy a 24 year veteran of the san francisco police department. on september 26, 2017, officer serrano was working uniformed patrol on a segway at the san francisco international airport, and he was assigned to terminal one. at approximately 2:25 p.m., officer serrano responded to a call of a suspicious person walking in traffic and pushing a luggage cart. after units were unable to

locate this person, officer serrano diligently continued searching the area. officer serrano located the person, later identified as mr. johnson. mr. johnson was located outside the terminal in the smoking area. mr. johnson fits the description of the person who had been walking in and out of traffic on the roadway. officer serrano approached mr. johnson and asked him if he was traveling, and mr. johnson replied yes. officer serrano then asked which airline he was flying and mr. john did not answer. mr. john then stood up and walked into terminal one, baggage claim area. the baggage claim area was filled with approximately 50 people waiting for their luggage. in addition, there were numerous people waiting for the arrival of their loved ones and airport

workers onto their breaks and/or heading to their work sites. as mr. johnson walked away from officer serrano, officer serrano told mr. johnson that he just wanted to help him. mr. johnson continued to remain silent and attempted to avoid officer serrano by attempting to walk away from him. officer serrano followed mr. johnson on his patrol segway and continued speaking to him to offer assistance. suddenly, mr. johnson pushed his smart cart into officer serrano's segway and then continued to walk away. mr. johnson now displayed violent behavior, which officer serrano was now unsure of his intentions and his state of mind. and that officer serrano was now concerned about the public in this crowded baggage claim area. as officer serrano continued to attempt to engage mr. johnson

one more time to officer assistance, officer serrano walked up behind mr. johnson, and that's when mr. johnson turned and yelled you're going to die. he probably didn't say it like that. mr. johnson produced a sharp tooth push dagger, which he produced in his right hand. this sharp tooth push dagger is a handheld sharp edged weapon, commonly used in combat for stabbing or thrusting. the fixed blade on this dagger was approximately 1.25 inches in length, and the handle can be held in your fist, with the blade protruding between your

miding finger and ring finger. mr. johnson pushed at officer serrano with the dagger, causing a laceration near his carotid artery. officer serrano, understanding the dangerous situation he was in, and the potential for mr. johnson to attack the surrounding public, realized he needed to defend himself so that he'd protect the public. officer serrano immediately backed away from mr. johnson in an effort to create time and distance from his attacker. however, mr. johnson violently closed the gap by swinging at mr. serrano while holding the dagger in his right hand. while attempting to create time and distance between himself and mr. johnson, officer serrano held up his bare hands to defend himself against johnson's

violent on slaught. knowing that he had already been slashed in the face by john's dagger, officer serrano continued to assess the danger not only to himself but to the numerous people around him. as mr. johnson quickly gained ground on officer serrano, officer serrano kept his tactical edge by kicking mr. johnson in his left leg, all the while knowing he could be stabbed at any time. when mr. johnson came close enough, officer serrano kicked at mr. john's left leg. the well placed kick struck mr. johnson near his knee and caused mr. johnson's leg to buckle as he fell to the ground. however, when officer serrano kicked mr. johnson, mr. johnson brought his fist down with the carved dagger and dug deep into officer serrano's left leg, stabbing him above his knee.

after being stabbed and wounded, officer serrano quickly evaluated the situation and realized the imminent danger this man continued to pose. without regard for his safety, and for concern of the safety of the surrounding public, son serrano continued to engage mr. johnson to stop his violent attack. when mr. johnson fell to the ground on his stomach, officer serrano bleeding from his face, his hands, and his leg, quickly positioned himself on top of mr. johnson's back to control him while awaiting back up. mr. johnson continued to hold the dagger in his outreached right hand at his side. seeing that officer serrano needed assistance and without due regard for his own safety, an unarmed t.s.a. security agent responded to assist officer

serrano. the agent was able to restrain the hand holding the dagger by pressing down on mr. johnson's wrist and left arm with his weight. at this point, mr. johnson released the dagger. seeing this, the agent picked up the dagger and threw it away from johnson and towards another airport employee. with the assistance of passengers in the area, airport employees, police service aides, and police officers, mr. johnson was restrained and taken into custody. officer serrano was transported by ambulance to san francisco general hospital emergency room, where he was treated for two looserations to his -- lacerations to his left cheek and ear, two lacerations to his hand, and one deep laceration to his left knee and leg area. the laceration to officer serrano's leg required extensive suturing, totaling 14 stitches.

mr. johnson was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer. on this day, officer serrano displayed outstanding bravery above and beyond that is expected in the line of duty, where the objective to protect the public from a knife wielding attacker was attorney to justify risk. -- important to justify risk, where the risk of life actually existed, and officer serrano had sufficient time to evaluate that risk to formulate a plan to create time and distance and use other means besides deadly force. if it was not for his quick thinking and his actions, there is no doubt that officer serrano would have sustained more severe injuries, even life threatening, additionally due to mr. johnson's proximity to the public, officer serrano was able to protect many people from attack. this incident unfolded very quickly in an area that was densely populated. officer serrano, in fear for his

life, would have been justified to shoot the advancing armed suspect. however, officer serrano showed restraint and excellent judgment by creating time and distance so that this incident would not end in the loss of life. officer serrano's injuries required extensive treatment and subsequent follow up appointments and rehabilitation. officer serrano has since returned to work providing excellent, compassionate and empathetic service to the community. due to his brave, heroic and self-less actions and the injuries sustained during this incident, the san francisco police department is proud and honored to present officer reynaldo serrano with the gold medal of valor and the purple heart award.

[applause] >> next, commander these -- teresa ewings and joe mccloskey please come forward. >> first ever all, i'm amazed that all the kids are like -- there's been no melt downs. i'm going to knock on wood right now because this is the last one. this is a story of courage and trust between two brave men that exemplifies of men and women of sfpd at tenderloin station.

they're incredible human beings that want to make a difference and each day make it back home to their families. sergeant joe mccloskey and mike gutierrez are two of the best in the police department. they're very effective at apprehending some of the most violent criminals we have in the tenderloin. on that day, october 15, 2015, at 1206 hours, they were flagged down by a citizen in need of their assistance. a man was throwing battles near a construction site, and the reportee believed that it was going to damage the trucks. the sergeants were unaware of when they exited the vehicle and approached this man was they were going to have to fight to save their lives and to make it home that day. sergeant mccloskey approached

the individual from the driver's side of the vehicle. due to his experience, sergeant mccloskey saw that there was something not right. seeing that the suspect appeared aggressive due to his demeanor and behavior, he placed him into custody to investigate the situation. as he placed his hand on the individual, immediately, the individual immediately turned on the sergeant, grabbing the front of his shirt and bulletproof vest, placing sergeant mccloskey off balance. the subject violently twisted sergeant mccloskey and slammed him viciously to the ground, causing a bruised rib, shattered knuckled, with a torn tendon and displaced hip. the suspect was now on top of sorge mccloskey, continuing his violent abeing at thatted, which results in sergeant mccloskey suffering a broken nose. he could only defend himself with one arm due to the other

one being pinned against a parking meter. seeing that his partner was in trouble, sergeant gonier attempted to remove the subject from sergeant mccloskey. the subject had incredible strength to fend off both of the sergeants attempting to stop his escalation of the violent attack. the subject's attention was now turned to sergeant mccloskey's gun. he violently and without any hesitation was attempting to remove it from the holster. sergeant mccloskey realized he was attempting to remove the weapon by chopping it with his hand. sergeant mccloskey was know yelling to his partner, sergeant

koniaris, he's got my gun. sergeant koniaris tried to remove the suspect from sergeant mccloskey, but to no avail. the subject was relentless. now sergeant mccloskey was looking down the barrel of his own weapon. having only one hand and in extreme pain from his injuries, he continued his fight to survive. he was fending off the subject and pointing the gun at his face and being killed by attempting to move it away from his head. facing the reality that he was about to be killed, he yelled to sergeant koniaris, but he has my begun. sergeant mccloskey, fearing for his life and that of his partner made the ultimate decision to tell his partner to shoot the subject. sergeant koniaris was unaware, due to his position, to understand the extreme

circumstance that his partner was facing, which was fighting for his life, was fighting for life or death. sergeant mccloskey yelled to sergeant koniaris, he's got my gun. he's got my gun, shoot him. sergeant koniaris, without hesitation knew what he had to do what he had to do, and he did it. he saved the life of sergeant mccloskey that day. i believe this story does not end with the heroic actions of sergeants mccloskey and koniaris. having been at the scene, i knew that sergeant koniaris did not only saved a life that day, but sergeant mccloskey saved the life of sergeant koniaris that day. if sergeant mccloskey had not instructed his partner to shoot, i believe the subject would have taken the life of sergeant koniaris as well, with the incredible strength that the suspect displayed, i believe

that sergeant koniaris would not survive that day, for these acts of outstanding bravery and courage, these sergeants are being awarded the gold medal of

valor. [applause] >> can i ask all of tonight's award recipients to stand and face the audience, please. [applause] >> thank you, and you can take your seats. chief scott would like to say a

few closing remarks, and then, i have some final announcements. >> so to all the honorees of tonight, your courage, your bravery, is inspiring to us all, and i don't know what else to say except for thank you for your service to this city and this county, to each other. you make us all proud. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, chief scott, and thank you to everyone who came here tonight to honor these courageous officers, and a special thank you to these family and friends who honor these officers on a daily basis. offer the presentation of the colors, the chief, command and

officers will be available for photos with their family and friends, and please join us in the room to your right for snacks and refreshments. we have tons of food. and please stand for the retrieval of the colors.

on behalf of the police commission, chief scott, the staff, and the commanding officers of these brave women and men of the san francisco police department, thank you for joining us

>> so ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the incredible community here in alice griffith, on behalf of the resident leaders and community organizations, madam mayor, leader pelosi, president cohen, distinguished guests, i welcome you all to the reopening of the alice griffith community.

thank you. my name is theo, and i'm the director of the hope sf, and it gives me great pleasure to bring up aurelius walker for the invocation. >> distinguished guests and the community leaders from bayview-hunters point, and to my brothers and sisters that are here today, what an exciting day, what an exciting day. i hope through hope church, in the back of us here, and also tabernacle community development organization, i am on the board of directors of that particular program. what is so exciting, all those times, all those years at the

planning commission, at the board of supervisors, and talking in our community meetings, one of the greatest excitement that one can have to see their dreams realized -- somebody said what a tragedy assist not to continue your dream, but the greatest tragedy is not to have any dreams, not to have any hope at all. so about 50 years ago, 50 years ago when i came to bayview-hunters point, when i came to this particular area, i saw land space and all those -- and i had a dream, to do why we're here today. and today, that dream is released. anybody here know what i'm talking about? come on, given great hand praise. [applause] >> i'm going to do the

invocation, but before i do, i'd like for any grand kids just to stand, wherever you are, just to stand. i also have great grand kids, about six of them in this complex. and my lovely wife, she didn't walk down here, she rode down here on her scooter. would you just raise your hand. some of you may be aware of aurelius walker drive. some of you may walk that particular street. and also, my daughter, tanya, would you stand. tanya and nadine, they are the one that petitioned the board and all that to make that happen. and then -- all right. so in time, we appreciate you here. is the mayor -- the mayor arrived yet? i'm sorry. i'm just looking forward.

yes, sir -- when i do this thing, i'm going to pray. and nancy pelosi, where is is she? there she is. we've been knowing each other a long time. and malia cohen. and prayer means that -- simply means that the leadership in san francisco knows that there's a god. we know that we can't do it by ourselves, that we need god to help us. so in terms i'm going to ask you that you bow your heads and pray as we ask a blessing upon this housing and beautiful grounds. gracious and beautiful god as we pause at this moment in the history of this particular community and city, first, we want to thank you for the realization of low-income

housing in this community. we ask you to bless every person here and ask you to give us the knowledge to continue giving low housing to the persons in need. in the name we pray, thank god, amen. [applause] >> how's everybody doing? excellent. i'm fred blackwell. i'm the c.e.o. of the san francisco foundation. it is a real pleasure to be here. thank you. i'm going to be brief 'cause my job is really just to introduce the mayor, which she needs no introduction, but i'm going to do it any way. if you really think about it, and we're really kind of facing the facts here, when you see something like this go up in the neighborhood, this nicely done, your original thought and your first thought is man, that's not for us.

this is the kind of thing where it comes into the neighborhood and the rent's $3,000, and nobody in the community can afford it, and it ends up being one of those things that's a monument to the gentrification and displacement that's happening in many communities in the area. but what this is is the exact opposite of that. for that reason, today is very exciting. what this is about is not only doing it the right way, as mayor breed talks about, and the right way being a part of that is making sure that people can stay and benefit from this. but the other right part about it is that that is not an end in itself, it's an ends to the means. and the mean is actually trying to figure out how we as a community can make sure that every young person in this city

has the opportunity to meet their full potential. [applaus [applause] >> and the reason why i'm so excited to introduce the mayor is because that's what the mayor is all about. we're talking about someone who's a native san franciscan, someone who grew up in public housing, and someone who i know very well because she's held my feet to the fire for this. and someone who makes sure she uses her power and position and her pulpit to make sure we do the right thing on behalf of bayview-hunters point. so with that, i will introduce mayor breed. >> the hon. london breed: it is a beautiful day today. not just because the sun is shining, because this community is shining. and i am so honored to be mayor

at a time when the city is finally doing the right thing and fulfilling an old promise. some of you know i grew up in public housing, i grew up in plaza east, o.c., out of control projects. the old out of control projects, and similar to the conditions that alice griffith was in, double rock, whatever you want to call it. and similar to the conditions where i spent over 20 years of my life in those conditions, and also feeling isolated, feeling frustrates, blocks away from city hall, feeling like my community didn't matter, like the resources that were all around weren't making their way into our community. and when i became a member of

the san francisco redevelopment agency commission, when we started looking at this bayview-hunters point community, i visited. fred blackwell at the time was the executive director of the redevelopment agency commission, and just to step backwards for a minute, when i lived in o.c. -- i mean, plaza east, when we went through the hope six redevelopment, some of you remember that, we tore down 300 units, and there were only 200 units to replace those units. many of my friends and family members never returned. and because of that devastating experience, when this project started, i made it clear to fred blackwell and my colleagues on the commission, we cannot repeat the same mistakes of the past. we have to do this right for

this community. we have to make sure that not one person, not one family is displaced. we have to make sure that they are included in the process, and that we build a community, not tear one apart. there's plenty of room around here to build a community and keep people in their community. let's not do what they did to plaza east and move people to vallejo and other places outside the city because that's really how -- that's real hey how we lost the significant population of african americans in san francisco. let's not make the same mistakes. and today, we did it right. today, we shine a light on this community. we say thank you to all the people who hung in there, all the people who showed up to the community meetings, all the people who continue to fight for one another. we know that there are

challenges with violence, we know there are challenges of lack of opportunity. we know these challenges have existed in san francisco for sometime, but working together, working together, bringing our community together with so many incredible organizations, we are going to get the job done and we are going to open the doors of opportunity. today is a new day in san francisco, and because of my experiences, which i know some of you have similar experiences, because i had an opportunity at age 14 to work for the mayor's youth employment and training people and have people encourage me and support me and teach me right from wrong, i'm mayor today because people opened the door of opportunity. and as fred blackwell said, we can't leave anyone behind. we have to focus on making sure we provide this incredible housing as well as the amenities

and support that will make sure this community and the next generation broing up right here in alice griffith that they had the doors of opportunity opened to them. we are going to change san francisco for the better. we are going to make sure that we continue to move forward housing developments like this in a responsible way, in a way that moves the community forward and not tear the community apart. so i'm happy to celebrate today, because so many people had a role in helping make this dream a reality. it took many, many years, and some of you remember the president of the board of supervisors, malia cohen was out here. our late mayor, ed lee was out here, saying it's not about new promises, it's about keeping old promises. i'm going to make sure we keep the old promises in san

francisco. i want to thank our fearless leader, who brought over $30 million to this project. our congress woman, nancy pelosi, who's not only fighting for san francisco, she's fighting for the country all over the country. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: this is what success looks like. this is what it looks like when we have an amazing community that's coming together. and last, but not least, i just want to say, along with the one-for-one replacement and the increase in the number of affordable units, many of you know that president cohen and i worked on neighborhood preference legislation so that 40% of all new units built in this community go to this community first. so make sure you apply, make sure your kids apply, and make sure you continue to stay involved. if we are going to make sure that san francisco is a place

for all of us, we all have to play a role in the success, and we all have to do a better job of taking care of the next generation of young people growing up in this city, and as mayor, i'm committed to doing just that, and i want to thank all of you for being here today and all the hard work. it pays off in this beautiful, beautiful development. it is such a great day. thank you all so much for being here. love you, too. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, madam mayor. anybody been in the community meeting with residents, resident leaders, been at the other end of the table where they say theo, you going to fulfill your promises? this was built by the residents of alice griffith. it's my pleasure to bring up the

director of the neighborhood tenants association. >> it's an honor to be here. my name is falah setili. thank you for being here to celebrate with us. i'm so excited and grateful. thank you for all of the stakeholders who believe in us. it's not an easy test. i thank god for the strength and courage, and also, i want to thank my special friend, dwayne jones. thank you, dwayne jones. you encouraging falah to step up and take the torch. you can do it. but before i step down, i encourage all the residents to believe in my leadership, to

come out to the meetings every month. thank you so much for celebrating alice griffith. i'm going to call up some amazing residents to speak. angelica and sammy, please welcome them, thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you all for being here today. my name is angelina moore. i'm 21 years old, and i'm a third generation resident of alice griffith. my grandmother moved here after my father was born in 1969. since then, my family has grown significant roots here. i have so many great experiences in this community that shaped a

woman i am here today. just a year ago i was homeless, and devereux was the only place that felt like home, but thanks to their help and support, i was able to move into my own apartment. this has given me a sense of pride and independence that all young people should have. the bills don't stop, but i don't, either. the phoenix project provided me with the amazing tools to allow me to get into the program. i am striving to get a second job while finishing up school. [applause] >> as the days go by, i am extremely