The three reserve Gustine Police officers who jumped into action along an Arizona highway when they saw someone in trouble, will be presented with Valor Awards from the California Reserve Peace Officers Association.
Officers Jose Gallardo, Luciano Zelvaggio, and Emanuel Gonzalez rescued a man who was trapped in a smoking overturned vehicle along an Arizona highway last September while returning from a trip to New Mexico to pick up new patrol vehicles.
The three officers were driving on Interstate 40 and were passing through Kingman, Arizona when they noticed a woman standing along the freeway frantically waving a white rag trying to get someone to stop.
The officers pulled over to help and noticed a 2018 Toyota Tacoma crew cab truck wrecked and turned on a side in a field adjacent to the interstate. Smoke was billowing from the Toyota’s engine compartment as the officers attempted to assist the trapped man.
Officers Zelvaggio and Gallardo ran to the vehicle and could hear a man yelling for help and that he feared he was going to die. Officer Gonzalez began to slow traffic down and speak to the passing truck drivers for a fire extinguisher and was successful in finding one.
The angle of the wrecked truck, combined with the man’s inability to free himself made the extraction difficult but the three officers worked together and were able to free the man in about five minutes time. All the while, the smoke continued to get thicker and the officers feared it could explode at any minute.
“The California Reserve Peace Officers Association was founded in 1974 for the purpose of raising the professional, educational and employment standards of reserve peace officers,” according to the organization’s website. “Working with individual reserves, reserve associations, departments, the State Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, and the California Legislature, CRPOA has, from the beginning, been actively engaged in working for the betterment and welfare of reserves. Although originally founded solely for the benefit of reserve officers, the Association now also serves search and rescue members and volunteers in policing.”
The awards will be presented on Aug. 9 at the organization’s conference in Burbank.