Redding police honor their own in life-and-death situations

The Redding Police Department held its annual awards ceremony Thursday where 18 people — mostly officers — were honored for their work in 2019.

Brian Berg was named officer of the year for 2019 and also received a police commendation along with eight other officers who were involved a deadly shooting.

"Today (we) celebrate our employees for outstanding performance in conduct on and off duty that has really exemplified the standards of the Redding Police Department," said Lt. Jeff Wallace, the master of ceremonies.

"We're really proud of all these people. They do unsung work every single day. They make a difference in people's lives every single day," he said.

Before presenting the awards, Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller thanked the officers, support staff employee of the year Karen Caldwell, chaplain Jen McCloskey and volunteer Bill Ivey for their "incredible work."

"We have a lot of employees who do a lot of really good work. Singling out a few can be a difficult process," Schueller said.

The award winners were nominated by their peers and reviewed by the department's meritorious conduct board.

Police commendations went to the nine officers who handled a Feb. 11 call about a suspicious-looking man who was armed with a handgun, pushing an empty baby stroller and acting irrationally.

The call turned into an officer-involved shooting following a standoff with Phayvanh Inthavong on Arizona Street. Inthavong fled officers and ran into an occupied house, assaulted a 12-year-old inside and threatened to take hostages.

The man escaped through a bathroom window and was climbing over a fence when he pointed a handgun at one of the policemen. Two other officers — Berg and Russell Veilleaux — shot at Inthavong, who was hit by one of the bullets and killed, according to a report by the Shasta County District Attorney's Office.

The two officers' actions were justified when they fired on and killed Inthavong, the DA's office said in an independent review released in November.

Schueller presented two lifesaving awards — one to officer Edward Gilmette and the other to officer James Stark.

Gilmette was off-duty and inside a local restaurant when he saw a man choking. Gilmette went over and performed abdominal thrusts to dislodge the food in the man's throat so he could breathe again.

Stark, a motor officer, was assigned to the Fourth of July celebration when four people on three "pool/lake" inflatables overturned in the nearby Sacramento River. He saw one of the rafters floating face down in the river after getting caught in the wash of the ACID diversion dam.

Stark jumped into the water, but his police gear weighed him down so he got out the river, removed the equipment and jumped back in.

Stark was able to bring the unconscious and lifeless woman back to shore, perform CPR and get a pulse. The woman was taken to the hospital but later died.

Mike Chapman is a photojournalist for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Follow him on Twitter @mikechapman_RS. Subscribe today!