It was shortly before 9 a.m., on May 4th, 1991, when Training Officer Manuel Argomaniz and his partner, 7-month Probationary Officer Marie Craig, on patrol in the Southeast Area, observed a structure fire in the vicinity of the Nickerson Gardens Housing Development. When they arrived at the apartment building, they could see smoke pouring from an upstairs window and through the room. A garden hose was also extending through the open front door. The officers followed the hose up the stairs to the second floor, where they found two citizens vainly trying to douse a growing fire that was spreading thick smoke and searing heat. Due to restricted visibility, Officer Craig returned to her patrol car to retrieve her flashlight. Returning to the stairway, she met the occupant of the burning apartment, who frantically screamed that her 5 year-old son was still in the upstairs apartment bedroom. Again upstairs, Officer Craig took the hose from the civilians and quickly saturated herself and her partner. Then, on hands and knees, they searched the smoke filled bedroom for the small boy. The smoke was so thick and choking that the officers had to leave the room four times in order to replenish oxygen in their systems. After a window was broken to permit some of the smoke to escape from the room, Officer Craig’s flashlight beam fell on the child, lying unconscious on the floor next to his bed. In company with a State Police officer now upstairs, they picked up the little boy. Officer Argomaniz carried him downstairs and outside to a place of safety where he performed full CPR. This caused the child to regain his heartbeat and his breathing. After paramedics took over the care of the small victim, Officers Argomaniz and Craig, breathing with difficulty and coughing profusely from the harsh smoke they endured, were transported to the hospital for treatment. Without the efforts of these officers, the little boy would not have survived the flame and smoke filled apartment. For their bravery and quick action that saved the life of a 5 year-old child in a fire and smoke filled inferno, Officer Manuel Argomaniz and Officer Marie Craig were presented the Los Angeles Police Department’s highest award, the Medal of Valor.