CHP officer stopped a mom from killing her child. He's among 10 given Medal of Valor.
MARYSVILLE — California Gov. Gavin Newsom awarded the Medal of Valor to 10 California Highway Patrol officers, including one who saved a 4-year-old boy from being drowned by his own mother in Marysville in December 2021, the CHP announced in a news release Wednesday.
Officer Kenneth Weckman was recognized for his "bravery and composure" during what turned into a violent attack on the evening of December 6, 2021.
Taylor Delaine Green, of the Dobbins area northeast of Marysville and near New Bullards Bar Reservoir, tried to drown her child in a canal near Woodruff Lane and Armstrong Road, authorities said.
Officer Weckman was investigating a report of a Dodge Caravan blocking Woodruff Lane when he heard screaming nearby. He spotted Green in the water with the child. Weckman approached Green and was able to wrestle the child away. Green began fighting with the officer and tried pulling all three underwater, the CHP said at the time of the incident.
More law enforcement officials arrived and the boy, who was uninjured, was safely removed from the water and Green was arrested.
Other CHP officers who received the Medal of Valor include:
- Officer Ryan Ayers, who saved a man from a burning vehicle while off duty in the Buellton area on August 6, 2021
- Officer Eric Jorgensen, who also saved a person from a burning vehicle, following a crash, in Merced on August 15, 2021
- Officers Steven Strobel and Aaron Adair, who also saved a man from a burning vehicle, following a crash, in West Covina on February 20, 2022
- Officers Jeremy Welch and Troy Wiltshire, who, on March 10, 2022, maneuvered their patrol in the direct path of a wrong-way driver to protect other drivers from potential injury or death. Both were injured in the collision and the wrong-way driver was arrested
- Sergeant William Fitzgerald, Officers Christopher Williams and Kasey Simas, who pulled a possible suicide jumper to safety on May 7, 2022, in Orange County