VISALIA (KMJ) — Two Medals of Valor were among numerous awards and recognitions handed out to members of Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.
The ceremony, which took place in the Tulare County Board Of Supervisors’ meeting room in Visalia Wednesday morning, saw both Deputies and civilian staff honored for their exemplary actions.
The Sheriff of Tulare County started the ceremony declaring that those being recognized never did what they did thinking they’d be applauded for it.
“Which is why we do it”, says Sheriff Mike Boudreaux. “We’ve got good people doing good things. It’s fun stuff, and that’s why we got into law enforcement”.
“I truly believe in our heart that we are the best law enforcement agency in the State of California”.
Among the awards highlighting those who had gone beyond the call of duty were two Sheriff’s Detectives who won the Medal of Valor after helping rescue two people while a parolee was actively firing an assault rifle and multiple handguns throughout the Porterville home he was holed up in.
“We don’t know what to expect when we go and do search warrants on parole searches”, says Detective Richard Ramirez.
“We never expect anything like that”, continues Detective Victor Bonilla. “Being there seemed surreal, like it wasn’t even happening”.
They say they’re not only partners, but friends too.
“We already know how each other’s gonna react without even being next to each other”, says Detective Ramirez.
“We started…I think..camp together 17 years ago”, continues Detective Bonilla. “Who else is going to go into a house after you when there’s multiple gunshots?”.
“I told my girlfriend [about the award] and it was on the Facebook. Got a lot of responses and people were proud of me for it”.
The pair’s actions in November 2014 place them in a group of now six people to have ever been awarded the Medal of Valor from Tulare County Sheriff. The medal is the highest honor the Sheriff can award.
KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew was there, and you can hear his report as it aired on KMJ:
