2 Pima County deputies to receive national honor for heroism

A national commission is honoring two Pima County sheriff’s deputies for their heroism in rescuing a woman from a burning truck last year.

Deputies Adrian Gallo and Joe L. Serrano are among 25 people nationwide selected to receive the Carnegie Medal for heroism from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission in Pittsburgh.

The commission annually recognizes people for heroic acts — nearly 10,000 total since the award was founded in 1904 by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

Along with the medal, the honorees also receive a cash award. Since its inception $38.5 million has been given by the fund.

Gallo and Serrano will each receive $5,000 and their medal by December, said Eric P. Zahren, commission executive director and trustee. Details about the presentation have not been finalized.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” said Gallo, 35, who has served as a deputy for nine years. “I like to help people,” he said, explaining the reason he joined law enforcement.

Serrano, 37, said the recognition “is a tremendous honor” and, he too, joined the force to lend a hand to others, something he learned from his grandfather, Jack White, who retired as a sergeant from the sheriff’s department in the 1990s.

Both men said they were doing their job on May 16, 2015 when they responded to a two-vehicle crash at about 9 a.m. at West Bopp Road at South Camino Verde southwest of Tucson.

One pickup truck crashed head-on into another. Both left the road and burst into flames.

Each driver was in twisted metal. The images are ingrained in the minds of the deputies.

The crash occurred when 21-year-old Daniel Bradshaw passed another vehicle by swerving off the road and then returned to the road in the wrong lane, barreling into Lyndelle H. Watkins’ pickup.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Gallo was the first deputy to arrive at the scene. He went up to one truck and directed bystanders how to remove Bradshaw, who was not wearing a seat belt and was seriously injured.

Gallo then went to work trying to pull Watkins, 69, out of her truck. She was trapped by the dashboard and steering wheel, severely injured and unconscious.

He ran between the burning vehicles and tried to open the driver’s door of her pickup, but it was jammed. He reached through the window and cut off Watkins’ seat belt, but still could not free her.

Gallo ran to the passenger’s side and opened the door and climbed into the truck, but still was unsuccessful in getting her out.

Minutes later Serrano arrived and he and Gallo both tried to open the driver’s door, but “it would not budge,” Serrano recalled.

Meanwhile, the flames were getting closer to the woman.

Serrano drove his patrol car up to the burning pickup, attached a winch line to the door and forced it open. They reached in and pulled Watkins out as the flames reached the dashboard.

Drexel Heights Fire District paramedics treated Watkins, who was taken to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson. She died four days later.

Gallo also was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation and an injury to his forearm.

Bradshaw was eventually booked into the Pima County jail. The outcome of his court case was not immediately available Friday.