DA Honors Five as Courageous Citizens in Pasadena

PASADENA, CA - A nurse who intervened in a stabbing attack on a colleague on Easter Sunday 2014 was among five people honored Wednesday as courageous citizens by Los Angeels County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

Rochelle Floyd, 52, of Chino Hills, was lauded for grabbing the hood of Ramiro Carnalla's jacket and dragging him off a 61-year-old nurse who was stabbed multiple times at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar.

Carnalla -- who had called 911 from his cell phone outside the medical center and claimed to have a weapon before going inside -- was sentenced last September to nearly 16 years in state prison.

Also honored by the district attorney at the ceremony in Pasadena were:

• Luz Maria Torres, 51, of Ontario, who urged a 13-year-old girl to run away after seeing Guillermo Ceniceros grab the teen by the arm and pull her toward him in the Santa Clarita Valley on Nov. 12, 2014. Torres honked her vehicle's horn at the man, called 911 and followed him until sheriff's deputies arrived and took him into custody. Ceniceros pleaded no contest to one count of attempted kidnapping to commit rape and was sentenced last December to seven years in prison.
• Scott Angel Aquino, 26, of Beaumont, Richard Mason Jr., 26, of Ontario, and Eddie Harris, 28, of Alhambra, who subdued a man as he was attacking an Alhambra woman walking to her residence on March 3, 2015.

The three detained the assailant until police arrived. He eventually pleaded no contest to felony assault with intent to commit a sex crime and was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

"The people we honor today showed great compassion. They took bold steps to help others whose lives were in danger," Lacey said. "Because of their bravery, crime victims were spared additional trauma and the criminals in these cases have been punished."

The awards are presented three times a year to recognize people who have performed extraordinary acts of valor and selflessness in saving victims, preventing crimes, capturing suspects or assisting with the prosecution of criminals.

--City News Service.