In 2018, Santa Barbara Police Department Officer Edward Kasper’s quick thinking and courageous actions saved a suicidal man who attempted to hang himself at a Santa Barbara City College parking lot.
Off-duty Santa Barbara County sheriff’s Custody Deputy Zachary Salce’s swift efforts pulled a Lompoc woman trapped in an apartment fire out to safety.
Because of Santa Barbara Officer Eric Davis’ tactical response and bravery under pressure on March 25, two suspects were taken into custody after they stole more than 180 bottles of prescription drugs from Rite Aid on Milpas Street.
These three law-enforcement officers were recognized for their courageous service and unyielding actions taken during life-threatening circumstances in the last year.
The group was honored Wednesday as recipients of the H. Thomas Guerry Award for Valor from the Santa Barbara Citizens Council on Crime.
The awards are named after a Santa Barbara police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1970.
The recipients met at the Santa Barbara Courthouse before attending a ceremony at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisor’s hearing room, with officials, family members and friends in attendance. A dinner reception was held afterward at the Carousel House in Santa Barbara.
Five other law-enforcement personnel were recognized with Superior Performance Awards.
On June 30, 2018, Kasper responded to a report of a suicidal man hanging himself off of a SBCC parking lot just off Cliff Drive.
At the time, Kasper had only been a solo patrol officer on his own for two months.
The first officer to arrive, Kasper saw a man hanging from the structure, with a citizen attempting to hold him up.
The railing the man had used to hang himself from was between 20 to 25 feet high.
Thinking quickly, Kasper attempted to place his vehicle in a position to hold the man up, but the hood of the car didn’t reach his feet.
Using the hood of his patrol car, Kasper climbed up and attempted to hold the man so he could breathe. He gave his pocket knife to a citizen and directed him to go to the top floor to cut the noose from the man’s neck.
He realized there was no time to spare. The man was not breathing, his legs were convulsing and his arms were turning blue.
Kasper continued to use his body in an attempt to help hold the man up while updating dispatch and direct incoming units to the location.
After successfully cutting the victim down from the structure, Kasper switched gears and began lifesaving efforts. He was still the only officer on the scene.
Medical personnel arrived shortly after, and the man survived.
“Luckily, everything came together,” said Kasper, who is currently a member of his department’s honor guard and recruitment team. “It’s all fast, and then it’s done.”
Last year, Salce and his girlfriend were at their home in Vandenberg Village when they heard smoke alarms and smelled smoke. They went outside and noticed thick smoke coming from a first-floor apartment window.
Salce knocked on the door. He heard a woman screaming from inside the building, and the front door was locked.
Realizing the woman was in imminent danger, he ripped a window screen off, but it was too hot to open. He then kicked the front door open.
The flames and smoke blasted out of the doorway when it swung open.
Salce, along with his girlfriend, entered the apartment and crawled on the floor under the smoke. The woman was found unresponsive and lying on the floor.
Salce grabbed her upper body and his girlfriend grabbed her legs. They carried the woman out of the apartment, and firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after.
“It was just instinct to me,” Salce, who was hired July 2018, told Noozhawk. “There wasn’t really time to think.”
Davis was on a routine patrol when he parked his car across the street from Rite Aid in Santa Barbara.
He saw a car pull into the store parking lot in the early morning hours. Two men entered the store, and Davis approached to investigate.
He noted the vehicle license plates were covered, and the two men rushed out of the store wearing gloves and masks.
One man had a crowbar and the other had a trash can full of several prescription drugs valued at more than $35,000.
Davis drew his duty weapon and confronted the masked men. He ordered them onto the ground, and gave clear commands that resulted in both suspects immediately complying.
Davis requested backup, and held the suspects at gunpoint until other officers arrived.
In addition, he contributed to clearing numerous felony investigations from neighboring communities. Multiple agencies were able to link the suspects caught by Davis to other crimes.
Davis was hired in 2011 and worked for the department as a parking enforcement officer.
He was sworn as a police officer in 2016.
In 2018, he was selected as a crime-scene investigator.
“The thing about our job, every night is normal until it’s not,” Davis said. “There’s average days… and then immediately we are in the middle of something intense.”
Receiving the Superior Performance Awards were:
» Deputy District Attorney Anne Nudson.
» Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Dickey.
» Santa Barbara Police Det. Megan Harrison.
» California Highway Patrol Officer Julie Jensen.
» Deputy Probation Officer David Arnold.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
