2016 Award for Merit

Sgt. Jose Alvarez, Officer Mark Mugica, & Sgt. Archibald Mendoza Biola University

On February 19, 2016 Officer Mugica and Sergeants Alvarez and Mendoza responded to a call regarding a male student at a campus basketball court that was collapsed and was not breathing. Upon arrival, the officers immediately determined that the student had no pulse and was losing color. The officers immediately assume critical response roles; Officer Mugica began administering chest compressions, Sgt. Alvarez began administering rescue breaths, and Sergeant Mendoza applied and operated the automated external defibrillator (AED).

At some point, the device used by Sergeant Alvarez malfunctioned and he resorted to mouth to mouth rescue breaths without any hesitation. Their immediate actions were credited by the Doctors as not only saving the student’s life, but preventing any brain damage whatsoever. A point of note: two of these same officers used the same techniques a month prior to save a 6-month old infant who almost drowned.