By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
Three Folsom Prison correctional officers have been been honored for their actions under extraordinary circumstances either while working or off duty.
All three received their awards -- one Gold Star and two Silver Star medals -- during a Department of Corrections ceremony last week.
The Gold Star went to Officer Brian Chord, who in August was driving with his family last when he noticed a sedan wildly careening on the road. Traffic slowed, and the sedan hit a center divider, going airborne before coming back down on the concrete divider and starting to burn.
Chord approached the burning car and inside found the female driver disoriented and trapped. Chord pulled her through an open window as flames consumed the interior of the car.
The woman later was charged with driving while intoxicated.
Two other officers received Silver Star medals for acts of bravery:
Officer Robert Rodriguez was off duty when he saw someone beating a much older man. Rodriguez asked his wife to call 911 and then approached the assailant, who was by then beating another person.
Rodriguez used his training to stop the assailant before help arrived. Both victims suffered serious injuries.
Officer Douglas George Stever was on duty at UC Davis Medical Center when he saw a disoriented patient, suspected by hospital staff of being under the influence of methamphetamines, damaging medical equipment with scissors.
Stever calmly convinced the patient to surrender the scissors then subdued and held the person until police arrived.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
Related story:
California honors two Folsom prison guards - May 2, 2010
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